Of Consequences: From it an Empire
by Monkeybandit2
Summary: What does one do when they walk away from what they once knew? Drink their memories away? Hide from the faces they considered friends? Or unwittingly walk another path entirely without realizing till its too late?
1. Prologue

**I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status(in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point...** **In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Why else would it be in FanFiction?**

 **Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (** ** _OF DOOM_** **)!)**

Of consequences: From it an Empire

A prologue years after

No matter where one was born, no matter the age, no matter the nationality and circumstance be it war or peace, even if one had somehow escaped any sense of familiarity with war other than its barest definition as a written word, one would be quick to recognized the synchronized pattern of samurai ready for battle, ready to end their own lives if need be if by some miracle it allowed their comrades in arms to strike the final blow in their stead. Even in the decline of fighting in recent years spanning close to a decade the march was the most distinguishable amongst all others noises to be heard, especially within the normally quiet courtyard walls of the palace where idle chatter was the preferred norm.

All eyes available were drawn upon three battalions of samurai, one unit armed naginata whereas the rest were armed with the more commonplace katana. Even those inside the palace proper, politicians, servants, patrolmen alike were made curious enough for such a show of force to be made necessary in a time of peace, tenuous as it was at the worst of times. The eyes of a great many narrowed at what lay between three battalions of samurai with two additional units of bowmen angling themselves to put all that was between them in their crossfire: Foreigners, five of which from the eastern lands; the 'civilized' lands.

Seldom was it that those who crossed over to the 'savage west' as they called it had anything resembling a noble intention in centuries past. Many an aspiring warlord, a even greater host of successful ones and even the more rare influential wisher of peace had died at their hands for the sake of their own peace; personal ambition, boiling blood and even excessive greed kept the West in a seemingly endless state of war, and the East, for all it's 'civility' despite being divided as it was itself, found it much more to their liking that way. The constant warfare kept most of the ambitious warlords within their own lands in the Western territories, and even then should one cross the desert that divided the Elemental East and 'Savage' West, their Elemental shinobi often took care of them before they became too great a threat. But most of all, shinobi were often sent into the West to ensure the wars never stopped. For untold years they had succeeded in slaying people who had the potential to unite the land, regardless of their own intentions be it genuine peace or warmongering; divided as it was, The East would be hard pressed under the best of circumstances to fight of an aggressive, unified West before they themselves united under one banner. Yet in the end it was only a matter of time that someone rose up, never tasting the death wantonly gifted to his predecessors in spirit; the First Emperor of the Empire, the one man to survive the odds and make the Eastern fears all the more tangible.

Undoubtedly the guards stationed on the walls were on high alert since the march began. Without even a shred o doubt the samurai and police patrolling the city were as well. Even the guards behind the palace walls proper were undoubtedly riled up at that very moment whilst shinobi lurking within its shadows began to coat their weaponry with poisons, all the while eying the shadows for any sign of an intruder that hadn't been caught as of yet. Of the samurai who hadn't dared go on patrol in favor of being ready to assist on a moment's notice, one man on a horse made his way towards the back of the palace, to the odd sight that was a farmer's field where farmers milled about once their duties were done as well as a few men-at-arms patrolling in pairs; off to the side was a large house, ever constantly monitored by the patrols and other guards on duty. In all haste he madly dashed to the yard of which, to the man resting in the shade of the porch alongside a bored boy playing with a black cat with a white tipped tale.

Due to his urgency he easily drew attention of both the boy and the man as the rider neared them in a gallop, halted the horse in a hard stop that had the horse skid along the ground and hopped off to dash to the man. Upon nearing the border of the porch the messenger stopped, bent down to one knee and urgently averted his gaze to the ground, effectively dodging the exasperated look on the man's face that was aimed at the samurai. Meanwhile the boy, a dark skin child of silvery hair and blue eyes roughly the age of eleven, looked at him in curiosity, giving the cat enough of an opening to latch onto the fern he was using as a toy with the feline equivalent of a victory cry.

"My Lord!" the soldier announced. "Foreigners from the Eastern Lands have brazenly approached the city gate to demand an audience with you!"

The man sighed as he leaned forward from his chair. "Dignitaries?" he lamely asked.

The samurai's head ducked even further in a bow. "So they have said, my Lord! Yet they're attire betrays them to be Shinobi from the East!"

What ease the man had evaporated in an instant whereas the child visibly brightened in excitement as he turned to the emperor. "They're the ones with the super cool moves, right dad? Like your shadow clone technique and rasengan? Can I go see them? Please!" By then he was already on his knees and facing his mother who only wearily looked on from the shadows of their house. As for his father, the emperor, he ran a hand through his golden hair and sighed.

"What village?" he asks the kneeling man.

The man bowed even lower than before as a troop of yari wielding samurai began their dutiful march to his home, in front of them was a smirking purple haired woman with a large snake lazily draped across her shoulders. "They had the symbol of a leaf imprinted on their headbands! That is all I know, my Lord!"

The man didn't move nor stiffened in the least. Instead he languidly darted his eyes to the only woman amongst the new arrivals, the samurai parting into two lines and standing at the ready. She had on a tan trench coat that sat on her shoulders beneath the snake which partially covered the maroon kimono she wore, adorned with black lilies. Underneath of which and only visible through a slight parting in the dress was a fishnet shirt. Peeking out from underneath her robes were shinobi sandals, Eastern shinobi sandals, colored black that made her white socks stand out all the more. On her head, doing little to keep her short, almost wild hair back from her slightly wrinkled face, sat a headband with a caricature of a whirlpool stamped in the middle. She only gave him a renewed smirk as a response while propping her hand against her hip.

"Kenzo, stay here." The man got up and without ceremony headed inside, taking in his son's complaints in stride as he followed him inside.

Almost immediately the boy darted past his father to reach his mother, a dark skinned woman of dark pair and golden eyes, who stood to the side of the hallway with a frown. "Mom!" Kenzo whined, "Dad won't let me meet a bunch of shinobi from the east!"

With a frown the woman who wore a form fitting black, short legged leotard with a careful garnishment of golden flowers to her right leg turned to the man. "Which village?" she asked, concerned evident in her voice which was matched with a frown.

"The Leaf Village," he all but mumbled aloud.

"Mom!"

Her attention switched back to the young boy, her son. With a smile, albeit a forced one, she reached over and ruffled his hair much to his audible irritation. "Say, did you have lunch yet?" she asked in a playful manner.

"Mom!" he groaned again he gave her a pointed glare. She sighed in return.

"Don't fight your father over this. He has his reasons after all." She hooked an arm around her sons neck and gave him a wear smile as she led him to the kitchen. "Now let's get ourselves some lunch."

"But mom!"

"No buts!" she sighed as she lightly bopped the back of his head with the palm of her hand. "Not even people as powerful as your father gets everything he wants. This certainly isn't one of them!"

Meanwhile in the upstairs in the bedroom a door to a wardrobe was slammed shut as he retrieved the final piece of his lordly attire, the one suited for combat when he had the luxury to half expect it. In record time he had discarded the clothes he was wearing earlier and quickly adorned himself with a dark green kimono vest not unlike the one he remembered from ages past and a pair of black hakama pants. Tabi socks and zori were on his feet. Next he lashed to his waist a ninjato with a wakizashi just above it at a slight angle. Last but not least was a orange haori with a yellow trim he had just fished out of a drawer. Before he considered getting out of the bedroom however he deigned to stop to look into a full body mirror to inspect himself for a moment before smirking with a snort of a chuckle.

"Care to clue me in on the joke, boss?"

Slowly he canted his head back to spy on the kunoichi from earlier who was now leaning against his doorway with a slight grin on her face.

"Nothing," he murmured as he returned his gaze to the mirror and grinned slightly at the image of himself. "Just I can't help but think palace life is starting to affect me a little..."

The kunoichi smirked, rolled her eyes and shook her head all at once. "Okay, I'll bite: how is it affecting the "Weird Emperor" who'd rather spend all day attending his fields than suffer one day actually living in the palace?"

He grinned a little wider as he turned to her and pinched his haori for emphasis. "The colors clash," he stated.

She owlishly blinked at him before her smirk returned only to morph into a grin itself. "Too little orange for you?"

The man smiled as he finally turned to the door and sauntered to it. "Something like that," he muttered with a soft chuckle and a lopsided grin.

The woman only shook her head as she playfully slapped his shoulder in his passing. Let's go see what those punks from Konoha want, shall we?" Soon enough she found herself following him down the hall and subsequently the stairs. "

XVX

Palace steps

Large and ornate as a imperial door should be, the door groaned as it was opened by guards unassociated with the yari honor guard but nevertheless stood at the ready when they were able. As if they weren't at attention before, the samurai surrounding the Leaf shinobi went rigid, their hands clamping at the handles of their respective weapons for a ready draw, never mind the reason behind it. Regardless, the shinobi barely paid them any mind as their free eyes wandering up the stairs to find a veritable wall of upright spears descended the stairs as if to safeguard the man behind them as well was the woman wearing a trench coat.

"Geez, it's like they still don't trust us after taking all our weapons," one sighed and groaned as he combed a hand through his black hair in mild exasperation while he looked up.

One nudged the arm of a another shinobi, kunoichi rather, to get her attention. With a slight tilt of his head he managed to point at the woman in the trench coat who smirked at them in return. "Is that who I think it is?"

The woman's red eyes widened in surprise. "I thought she was dead," she murmured.

"It looks like she wasn't the only one to come back from the grave as it were." Both glanced at another shinobi of dark, shoulder length hair who was intently staring at the golden hair emperor still descending the steps at a stern but unhurried pace, the kunoichi but a step behind him as she seemingly sized up each of them. As for the emperor by deduction, his eyes were keenly watching the only other blond within the company of the shinobi who gawked back at him.

"... Are you sure?" one of them whispered. "I mean I guess it would be him after fourteen years but I can't tell with the beard in the way."

The honor guard of thirty dutifully stopped when the first line of ten reached the base of the stairs As for the emperor and his escort who remained a step behind him, he stopped just before the highest step their highest set of spears could reach.

The slightly older man frown in evident confusion. His very features bore a more aged appearance than the one who stood above him and yet it was more than apparent their appearances were similar to one another: tanned skin, golden blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a white coat licked by a red decoration of flames along the bottom quarter of which. On his chest was an olive green flak jacket which obscured whatever he wore beneath it. On his legs were blue shinobi pants made a little dirty from the trip, a state his matching shinobi sandals shared in. Upon his brow was the very leaf stamped head plate the man above couldn't help but glare at in remembrance.

"Naruto?"

"Don't you dare address the Emperor so casually!" Every soldier at hand from the honor guard to the archers drew their weapons of choice and crouched if they could for an attack, causing the shinobi in turn to hunch over in their own combat poses, one of which having his hands at the ready in a two handed hand seal.

For a moment nothing but latent aggression filled the air. Eventually the samurai relented, sheathing their weapons or else having them back in the upright pose as before much to the confusion of the shinobi till a curious glance revealed that the Emperor, Naruto, had one hand up in the air, their apparent sign to stand down though not without reluctance on their part.

The woman shook her head with an amused grin. "Kids these days," she sighed, "looking for a fight at the drop of a hat." She leered at the shinobi with a grin. "Though I can't blame them, especially since you guys, as they put it, "brazenly approached the city gate."

The dark haired woman stepped forward and spoke up. "Anko, is that really you?"

Anko's grin only broadened as her gaze fixated on the dark haired woman with red eyes. "Hey Kurenai!" she greeted with a jut of her hand out in a wave. "I thought that was you! What it been what, twelve? Thirteen years? How's little Mirai doing?"

A grateful smile split itself on Kurenai's lips. "She's doing fine." Her smile was lost soon afterward however. "Anko, what happened to you? You just disappeared out of the blue years ago..."

A bitter smile dominated the once mirthful grin on the purple haired woman's face. "I was sent to die," she answered her simply as he smile became more bitter. Upon looking at her shocked face as well as the general state of denial of the others she shook her head. "What, I take it was an off-the-books mission, Lord Hokage? Or is Danzo holding things from you like he does with everyone else despite your so called deal?"

The older blond sternly frowned at her but said nothing. Regardless, she shook her head with a defeated smile, her eyes closed all the while. "Either way it doesn't matter." She reached into a pocket of her trench coat and retrieved a worn headband with a Konoha plate riddled with numerous battle scars. Without so much as glancing at it she drew her arm back, across her chest, and flung it through the forest of spears in a straight shot to the shinobi, or rather the ground at their feet. As the headband tumbled along the ground she spoke up again. "Consider that my resignation, about twelve years overdue."

"Anko!"

"Enough, Kurenai. Just by looking at her it's obvious she has no qualms about this," the shinobi with the clear eyes interjected as he narrowed them at the blond emperor whose gaze never left the older man that stood between the awaiting samurai.

"So," he finally spoke up, "are you going to tell me why you bothered to... _visit_ me?" His eyes narrowed. "I imagine this isn't a social visit. Even if it was, I would think it more than obvious that you're not welcomed here."

From below the Hokage hesitated before speaking by taking a quick glance at the scowling samurai surrounding himself and his team. He bowed before him, Anko and the contingent of samurai that separated them. "Indeed that isn't the case," he uttered more mindfully than before. "We've come before you in hopes of forging an alliance between the Empire of the West and the Hidden Leaf Village."

"For what exactly?" he intoned, his eyes narrowing.

The Hokage stood straight and looked at the younger blond in the eye. "For years Konoha has been embroiled in a war with an alliance between Oto, Iwa and a myriad of other smaller villages... As it stands our own forces consist of our own, Suna, and what mercenaries we could cobble together if only barely." He dipped his head. "We've been holding our own for awhile till two years ago when requests for missions began to gradually decrease even amongst out most loyal clients, in turn the mercenary portion of our forces began to steadily dwindle as our treasury became drier by the month; we only have a tenth of our hired forces since every other village took a neutral stance towards this war."

"I see... and where exactly is the Fire Daimyo in all this?" the emperor stonily asked.

The Hokage looked away with a grimace. "Since it's been deemed a war between shinobi, our allotted stipend from taxes remains the same. It's enough to maintain our own forces but ultimately we haven't much support outside what Suna and mercenaries can provide."

"I see... and you were hoping that perhaps with news that an empire has allied with you that your enemies will grant you a reprieve, is that it?"

The Hokage all but snapped his head at him and frowned. "It's more than that!" he calmly exclaimed. "Though it may not be considered it one since no lands or towns are being captured, it is still a war nevertheless! One that would surely mean the destruction of the Leaf Village, your home, and its only ally if no one intervenes!" Though he hadn't yelled out a single syllable he took a calming breath. "Please!" he begged. "We're in dire need of your support!"

Throughout it all Naruto didn't bat an eye in the slightest. Anko, however, at least frowned in perhaps pity.

"While you perhaps considered this, you seem to be operating under the assumption the world stops at the furthest borders of this empire," Naruto stated. "It doesn't. Not in the least." His hand at his side tightened ever so slightly. "And though it is beside the point now, I haven't considered Konoha to be my home in some time."

At that statement the shinobi below did their best not to squirm as they saw what route this was to take. Yet they remained silent all the same.

"Assuming of course I was sympathetic enough, even if it did sway your own war in your favor, how are the daimyo of the Elemental Countries suppose to react if news spread that this empire sided with you, sent you supplies, troops even? Even if they turned a blind eye, how will your enemies react?" His blue eyes at last narrowed. "While I do no doubt the capabilities of my troops and their commanders, I will not have our attention divided between two fronts."

The shinobi and his comrades paled slightly in anticipation...

"Go home, you wasted your time for nothing here." At long last Naruto turned and slowly made his way back up the stairs with Anko but a step behind him once more. The naginata wielders began to part way for the shinobi though their weapons of choice were still held at the ready.

"Is this decision of yours because of what happened fifteen years ago?"

The emperor came to an even stop as did Anko who turned to look over her shoulder with a leering smirk. "You guys give yourselves too much credit," she almost laughed as Naruto, like her, turned to peer past his shoulder to send them a irritated glare.

Regardless, the Hokage continued. "You should know that it was never my intention to hurt you!" he stated. "It was a horrible joke that spun out of control long before I or anyone else realized it. For that—" he dropped down onto his knees and bowed till his forehead touched the ground "—I am sorry!" He paused only for a moment before speaking up once more. "Please, reconsider your decision!"

The emperor's eyes narrowed... "It's just like Anko said," he rumbled. "You give yourselves too much credit. Even if that was the case, it is like what I said before, the world's far larger than you care to think, _Hokage_." He turned back to the palace and resumed his ascent. "Besides, fifteen years later and I'm still not amused by your 'joke' in the least, _Father_."

Anko gave them a grin and a two fingered wave of her hand before turning away from them, following after the emperor while humming to herself, perfectly content with leaving the sullen shinobi under the care of the guards whom intently watched them.

XVX

Uzumaki Manor

For a brief moment her eyes flicked away from her sulking son to the kitchen window . Her eyes narrowed in the company of a concerned glower as she watch her husband as he sauntered back to the house with a small detachment of patrolmen following behind him, her shoulders slumped as if a part of his life had been taken away and crushed. She glanced at her son and bit back a sigh upon seeing him still sulking, his crossed arms were on the kitchen island and he was burying his face in them.

Smirking to herself for only a moment, she got up, walked over to and reached over the fridge and pulled down a cookie jar which she planted on the island. Immediately it grabed the attention of her son upon its careful clacking on the landing. "Our little secret," she said with a wink before leaving the room. She smirked once more and shook her head, especially considering she knew full well her son was looking left to right at tthat very moment as if searching for a trap before virtually teleporting himself to the cookie jar and devouring its contents with a ravenous hunger. Her grin was lost however the minute her husband walked through the door at long last, his features set in a thoughtful frown whilst his eyes were glazed over in rumination.

"Ryo for your thoughts?"

He looked at her with a jerk of his head and gave her a tired smile. "Sorry," he sighed. "Just thinking of how this all started for me..."

She gave him a wan smile, approached him and embraced him in a tight hug which he returned though at half as much strength. When they parted she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Go get changed," she told him with a small smile. "I'll go get dinner ready." She took a step back and grinned at him. "Or would you prefer to give everyone a heart attack by going out to eat?"

He smirks at her and makes for the stairs. "I'll be down in a minute."

Slowly he made his way up the stairs and then to the very bedroom which he had originally changed his clothes in. Once inside and having closed the door he took a few steps inside before sighing and sagging a little more in place. With another sigh he ran a hand through his hair and grunted when he dipped his hand back to massage a budding stiffness to his shoulder, his eyes closed in the meantime. Upon opening them once more his eyes glance at the mirror he stared into earlier. He turned to it and straightened himself out as he looked at his own image. Blinking, he found himself younger, his beard nowhere to be seen and his younger self now bearing a katana, wearing the forearm and shin guards of a samurai over an orange garb of a shinobi of the West, complete with a mesh shirt underneath the vestments of his kimono-like shirt. On his shoulders was a green haori, albeit slightly shorter than the one he wore now. Before he realized it his younger self's face was dirtied with dirt and grime from working on a field and his clothes were once again replaced, this time with the remnants of a farmer's ragged, worn attire riddled with hand sewn patches, in his hand was a plow. When he blinked once more it was again a younger version of himself, much younger than before if only by a year, the headband of Konoha proudly worn on his forehead. His clothes was that of a orange jacket, the upper third of which garnished with a black bar that consumed half of his sleeves by a considerable margin, outmatched only by a matching pair of orange pants minus the dark color; a kunai case was tapped to his leg.

Without realizing it he felt a breeze, one that neither came from a a partially open window or the air vents that ruffled his clothes as his younger self turned around and walked into the depths of the mirror, into the destroyed streets of a recovering Konoha.

 **A/N: Inspired by the now missing fanfiction written by** ** _ChrisM2011_** **(also gone, or perhaps changed his name) as well as too many hours playing** ** _Total War: Shogun 2_** **...**

 **Bit of a spoiler here but after reading it awhile back and a couple of... spin offs...** **I noticed that basically no one (that I'm aware of at least) goes through the trouble to say how it began and how our favorite blonde got from point A to point B. This story is that of how he got there.** **Whether or not it follows the route taken by the others remains to be seen.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter and enjoy the story as it unfolds!**

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.**

 ***Edited on 7/23/2016... a much needed edit..** **.** **(WHERE WAS MY BRAIN DURING ALL THIS?! (Please don't answer that.** **I will steal your Tostitos if you do!)**


	2. Chapter 1

**I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status (in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point... In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only. Why else would it be in FanFiction?**

 **Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (** ** _OF DOOM_** **)!)**

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter One: When it all began

Konoha, fifteen years ago

... He supposed he should've seen it coming, not that he would've guessed it even if he had an inkling of what would happen to begin with...

Konoha as it stood now was little more than a crater filled with rubble, courtesy of Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki. Though Konoha iself put up a valiant stand against him and his otherworldly jutsu, in the end however they were crushed, quite literally, underneath his assault... only those outside the range of his impact were able to survive and even then at best they amounted to one-eighteenth of Konoha's standing forces... needless to say the civilian casualties skyrocketed that day. And yet despite all that those who have been killed in action, both shinobi and civilian alike, were alive and well, all thanks to the determination, the conviction and hope of Naruto Uzumaki who made Pain yield in defeat. In his last moments he decided to put what faith he had into the younger man, despite his reservations and undo the damage done by forfeiting his own— those he had slain in Konoha once more walked the earth once more, all thanks to the very power he held to destroy Konoha.

While the fact those who had been slain had certainly turned heads, it was those who came back from the dead that had them gasping. Whether it was a form of last minute spite or perhaps something akin to a misfire, an act of overreaching, from the graveyard came those who had long since died, alive, anew, healthy and no less confused as they were... teams were sent out to the graveyard to determine the number of the deceased had been given new life. It took the senses of the Inuzuka clan however to figure out that at least some of them were unwittingly trapped underground... By the end of the day over half the graveyard had to be dug up in order to find and ensure that only two-hundred-and-twenty-six had been resurrected, no more, no less. Of the resurrected only a quarter of which were shinobi, and, to everyone's shock, only one of them was a legend...

Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, sealer of the Nine-Tailed Fox into his one and only son on the very night of his birth, lived once more despite all the odds, extensively confirmed in every way possible between surviving labs, memory tests and confidential secrets listened to only by certain ears; once it was determined Tsunade, the current Hokage, was in a coma he was sworn back into office; between foremen, quartermasters, council members, clan heads and veteran shinobi, not even Naruto had a chance to say anything to him, much less see him...

As much as he understood, if only in part at least, he couldn't keep the frown from leaving his lips from that day onward without help as the celebration of his victory, really more of a celebration of the unwitting rebirth of those who passed away beforehand, finally wound down, virtually every able body put to work in rebuilding the village, guarding it or undertake missions with a passion that hadn't been seen since the months after Orochimaru's failed assault over three years ago... in the end however he was left behind; no work, no one asking for help upon offering, no friends or mentors to keep him company in the coming days and nights. Were he suspicious he would've thought they, both those he cared about and the village in general, were deliberately avoiding him.

Before he knew it the only company he had his old detractors, most of whom risen from the grave, to keep him company in the form of distant glares as they did their damndest to keep both themselves and the "demon kid" away.

It was almost a complete week later when the Hokage finally called for him at long last. Bored, a bit grumpy, but most of all curious, he wasted no time in making a bee line for the tent he was using for an office considering the demolished tower had yet to even begin to be repaired. When he finally arrived he couldn't help but rethink his eagerness as he came to stand before his farther who sat behind a table laden with various scrolls and documents in barely organized chaos, his arms resting on the table by his elbows as his hands clapsed one another in a ball, hiding away his mouth and chin as he gave him a stern glare he hadn't seen since the Third Hokage when he was alive to address serious matters... grave matters even.

... It definitely did not help matters in the least when there was a shinobi guarding each corner of the 'room.' One was also at his side as well as a vaguely familiar woman with purple hair lightly leaning against the tent wall... Squinting at her he couldn't— a moment later it dawned on him that it was the crazy snake lady, Anko or something... the one from the interrogation and torture department... who didn't look happy in the least...

"Naruto Uzumaki," the Hokage spoke up in a grave, stern voice. "Do you know why I called you here?"

A slightly nervous frown adopted itself on Naruto's face. "No..."

The Hokage, without looking, reached over and pulled out a vanilla folder, opened it and let it plop onto the table. "When I had the time I looked over your record as a shinobi..."

"You didn't graduate from the academy; you were inducted into the shinobi corps by not only defeating a rogue chunin named Mizuki in a failed attempt to smuggle Forbidden Scroll out of the village but learning an A-rank technique the very scroll you stole in the first place. As a result of this scuffle one of your instructors from the academy had to be hospitalized."

Before Naruto could open his mouth to defend himself, Minato continued. "Barely even the day before that you proceeded to deface the Hokage monuments that compromise the cliff just behind the village. Even then you had a propensity to run amok in the village for equally disruptive "pranks" as you called them."

"And while your "pranks" declined since becoming a shinobi there has been cases of insubordination, destruction of property, assaulting teammates, and endangerment of the client or mission objectives, disrespecting authority... Need I go on?"

"H-hey! What are you—?"

With the flick of the hand the Hokage closed the folder with the severity of a judge's gavel banging against its sound block. "Though your achievements are as many as they are great, certain items cannot be overlooked." He gave the younger blond the hardest glare any leader could give their subordinate. "As of right now you are no longer a _genin_ of Konoha as pending an evaluation. Turn in your headband."

Naruto gaped at him... "What?" he asked, his voice just above a horrified whisper.

"Turn in your _headband_ ," The Fourth Hokage reiterated in an even fashion. "You are no longer a _genin_ of Konoha."

Naruto did nothing for a moment. All he did, all that he could do was stand there as the Hokage's order and its implication ran amok in his head like a broken record. When his hands finally moved it was with the grace of the dead moving more out of memory than instinct or conscious effort. His dulled hands fumbled with the tie that held the band and plate to his head only to eventually succeed. He took one dead step forward and planted the headband on the table with a pronounced 'clack!' before standing back where he originally stood.

"You are to return here tomorrow at noon. Am I understood?"

Lamely Naruto nodded, his eyes having long since glassed over in defeat.

"Good. You are dismissed then."

Woodenly he turned around and soon exited the tent where he soon staggered off, his ears deaf to everyone and everything around him that tried to call out to him, his eyes fixated on the road before him as dictated by his possessed feet that sought him a refuge, wherever that might be.

XVX

Tent

"You know, for all the crap he pulled over the years, he never did anything that was below the belt like this. If anything he just got you pissed and called it good before walking off."

The Hokage wearily sighed and sunk his head against his hands. "Perhaps I'm not as adept at this than my son." A grin split his lips a moment later as he raised his head. "Then again the finished product is what defines a master!"

He reached over and picked up the headband and smiled at the reflect of himself on its surface before handing it to one of his subordinates. "Can you please get someone to polish this? Get him a new headband even?"

"Yes sir." The man took it and soon left the tent altogether. Not long after Anko likewise made for the exit as well.

"I'm telling you, this is not going to end well," she sighed. "I can only imagine what he'll come up with to get even."

The blond Hokage rolled his eyes and shook his head. Taking out a scroll from the stacks surrounding him he opened it, undid the seal and marveled at the chunin vest with orange highlights that greeted him the second the smoke cleared.

"As I said, Naruto, you're no longer a genin!" he said aloud with a grin match by the remaining shinobi in the tent.

XVX

Forest, six hours later

When he looked up at long last he found the sun was starting to set in the west, the sky changing with it from a peaceful blue to a almost harsh mauve. He looked to the ground to find the grass between his feet as well as part of the stump he sat on for so long. Tentatively he reached up and touched his naked forehead to ensure he hadn't suffered some illusion, a nightmare in the waking world caused by a runaway daydream or, hopefully, he somehow fallen asleep on this very stump and had an actual nightmare.

His hand cringed the moment it felt only skin, not metal or cloth.

His head sagged into his other hand, a balled fist which supported him all this time... there was probably a indent in both his legs from where his elbows sat all this time, not that he could feel them.

With a grunt he got up, each joint, bend, curve popping in protest after hours of disuse. He even had to rub his stiff neck as he cracked it with a weary groan. One by one he stretched out his limbs, bent them eve, to work out the collective kinks that remained as he dully eyed the foliage before him, his one refuge now that most of the village was in the process of being rebuilt, laborers and contractors were being brought in and to save on expenditures they were salvaging what they could of the ruins as they cleared them. Even the monument was closed off for the time being, the forest, short of his tent, was the only place he had for any sense of the word "solitude."

Wordlessly he turned in the direction of the camping grounds and took a step forth only to halt himself as he drearily looked through the scant openings through the forest at the vague sight of the few tents in clear view. His mind wondering on whether or not to go back...

His life as a shinobi was over, that much was for certain. On the same coin however he was trained for any other job... But considering how he was expelled without warning was it even possible he would get even a low paying job, let alone join the village militia if he was lucky.

Did the militia even pay their members though?

Regardless, if he was sacked despite all he had accomplished: Defeating Gaara when he released Shukaku, saved and brought back Granny Tsunade, brought the Kazekage, Gaara, back from the clutches of both the Akatsuki and death, with help of course for both, survived a priestess' proclamation of his own death, fought Pain even and managed to get him to stand down despite his overwhelming power... who was there to say others won't follow his example? The Hokage's example no less...

... How were his friends suppose to react to this?

With a groan he rubbed his hand along his face as he faced the other way, towards the depths of the forest. When he finally peered out his eye caught something glinting in the growing darkness of the forest, far off but no less brilliant.

Frowning to himself, he considered what to do. On one hand he could turn around and head 'home' for all the good that would do; he could sleep in for a change, especially now that he had nothing to do, suffer whatever the Hokage had in mind and suffer the slow, tedious death of his soul afterward trying to find a job in a vengeful world that is the village. On the other hand he had no obligation to go back, friends or no friends. He was no longer a shinobi and thus there was no sense of responsibility to tack onto him anymore, making him a free agent to do as he wants and as he pleases, for the most part at least. If worse comes to worse and his chakra was sealed as a precaution for the future, regardless of then he at least owed himself one last adventure, lame though it might be if in the end it was simply a lost locket or forgotten weapon that managed to emit one last brilliant shine before the day was out.

With a solemn smirk he waded through the brush to the depths of the forest where the light shined brilliantly.

For thirty minutes he journeyed into the veritable jungle that was Konoha's surrounding forest thanks to the underlying brush, all the while he had to sidestep bushes, the occasional fallen tree and even the random boulder that survived the ages. Just as it seemed the brilliant gleam maybe something conjured by his mind as perhaps some last vestige of hope he pushed his way past a tall bush when he came across a small grove amongst the forest where a locket indeed was precariously hanging from a low hanging branch.

"Huh..." He looked around for any evidence of a camp or else a traveler, explorer perhaps, that may have stopped in the grove rather recently. At most he found something carved into a tree to his side, earning not only a second look but a closer one as well. Upon reaching the trunk he knelt down and examined it to find an X shaped mark on it, wide and marked deeply into the wood to ensure it the passage of time didn't wear it away short of a century or complete annihilation. Frowning to himself he couldn't help but ponder what it meant for a moment before shrugging it off and sauntering his way to the locket with both hands behind his head. As he neared the locket his hand lazily reached out for the locket. It was only at the last second he yanked it back, his ear twitching at the sound of a branch snapping when he inadvertently saved his arm from a flying kunai aimed directly at it.

With a harsh, surprised gasp he armed himself with a kunai and stood at the ready in time to spy on a shadow falling down on him, a sword at the ready for a decapitating slash. He leapt back in time to avoid the blade and flung the kunai, equipping himself with another in record time as he gritted his teeth when his assailant, an Anbu, deflected the knife away and charged at him once more with one hand flashing through a set of hand seals.

"H-Hey! Why are you attacking me?! I'm not even a shinobi any more!"

As if in spite of Naruto's bid to quell the sudden hostility the Anbu brought his hand to his chest as he seemingly took a deep breath.

"CRAP!" He dodged to the side in time to avoid a fireball only to be caught within a veritable web of shinobi wire waiting just for him, binding him in place as his shocked body tangled itself further and further into the mess as he fought to regain both his footing and balance. A second later the wires seemingly came alive and bound him in place like snakes.

"It doesn't matter if you are an active or inactive shinobi," an Anbu spoke up from the shadows as the one from before slowly approached him, sword at the ready to pierce his skull. "Without extenuating circumstances anyone with a shinobi background cannot leave Konoha without permission, especially in the case of a jinchuriki; being dismissed certainly gave you no rights to try to leave."

"Leave?! I wasn't leaving!" he argued as he jerked his head away to the branch. "I was—..." To his horror the locket was gone. His would-be executioner erred in his march only to glance in the general direction of Naruto's stressed gaze as if giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Without any hint of proof for Naruto's mild claim the Anbu resumed his approach, his palm resting on the pommel of his ninjato to support the coming deathblow as Naruto struggled all the more before him. "I wasn't leaving! You got to believe me!"

As he got closer he raised the blade even higher.

"Damn it!" His teeth gnashed together as he considered only one option to save himself. The only option he had left really considering he could neither use his hands to use a seal, much less an incomplete rasengan which would only eat up dirt or his leg at worst, or muster enough concentration to use sage mode... He slammed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth till they threatened to break and burrowed within his own mind just as the Anbu came to a halt and thrust the tip downward, its aim being his forehead.

Just as the sword's tip threatened to pierce the thin amount of flesh which protected his forehead his eyes flew open, slitted irises a hateful red that bore into the Anbu and a red-orange coat bubbled into existence, stopping the blade in its tracts and engulfing the wire binding the blond. The man let go of his sword with an audible snarl and leapt back as a precaution just as the metal corroded away like burnt paper, the wire faring no better despite its collective thickness. In a matter of moments the sword's tip and the wiring were flayed away, effectively freeing Naruto and allowing him to stand up as a tail composed of the cloak angrily waved behind him, his hand clenched into a fistas both an act of anger and self control.

"Look," he growled out. "I am not abandoning the village! I came out here because there was something shining , got curious and came to investigate it!" The Anbu in plain view drew out a kunai already tied to a tag with a thick black outline, Naruto in turn gave an involuntarily growl in frustration as he held a hand up in a stopping motion as a tail of chakra slowly but angrily waved behind him.

"Say what you will, monster, but it is still an act of desertion; we have our orders."

Naruto's ears twitched thanks to his heightened senses at the sound of something whirling in the air. Before he realized what it was a bola wrapped around his protected neck, its weights smashing together in perfect unison and exploding on impact in a brilliant flash of light and shrapnel that barely scratched his face thanks to the cloak but nevertheless blinded him all the same, the resulting scream of pain and his hands clutching at his eyes in pure instinct serving as proof of which. With Naruto distracted the Anbu before him lunged, driving the kunai in as deeply and forcibly as he could, successfully driving it into flesh before he retreated to a safe distance, a casual glance at his gloves to inspect the damage as bits and pieces fell off or flayed away completely.

 ** _KA-BOOM!_**

Three times more powerful than the average tag, everyone both hidden and in the open were knocked back or, in Naruto's case, blown completely away as a hurting mass of flesh as more tails sprouted from his cloak, his flesh rapidly healing in the process to the point of pristine. With an animalistic growl Naruto reached down with one hand and calwed the ground in order to halt himself, his tails waving frantically in the air as he fought to control the underlying rage within. His eyes snapped to the canopy above as another anbu, his hands a blur.

XVX

"Lord Danzo." An elderly man of brown hair turned to the speaker, half of his aged face covered in bandages. The moment his lone eyed peered upon the kneeling blank masked shinobi who ducked his head down. "Team A has engaged the jinchuriki. As of right now they hadn't suffered any loses and the resulting battle in drawing the attention of the Anbu patrolling the vicinity... After activating the cloak, other patrols and even some of the regular forces are coming to investigate. As it stands right now, sir, it is likely he would flee as opposed to die as a 'traitor' to the Leaf."

"I see. Ensure the contingency is carried out then."

"As you wish, my lord."

XVX

" _Damn it!_ "

By some luck he managed to reign in enough of his emotions enough to will away his cloak but not enough to banish his altered features completely as he delved deeper into the forest as more as more anbu literally came out of the woodwork, no questions were asked, weapons drawn and at the ready as they took swipes at him at worst. Though his flesh had long since healed thanks to the fox residing within him, what remained of his jacket and shirt from the explosion was now in tatters from the numerous kunai and sword swings. Short of fighting them the only sensible option he could think to buy himself time to calm down and think was to create one army of shadow clones after another so as to escape. Before he realized it he ended up at the shore of the lake belonging to the Valley of the End. With an irritable sigh he considered his options... his _limited_ options of either returning and by some miracle sorting this all out, provided of course he hadn't accidentally killed someone, even he knew that was a dampener towards negotiations, or do the one thing he had never even once considered since becoming a shinobi: Run away and never look back.

His hands bawled into fists as memories of the dwindling number of clones came rushing into his head; by now at least half of the anbu were now hunting him down with the intent to kill. If he had to guess then perhaps only a third of his clones were now left and dwindling.

His ear twitched as a distant shout of "there he is" reached his ears despite the distance thanks to his heightened hearing. Again his hand tightened in irritation yet he only deigned to turn around as the abrupt earth of rumbling earth drew his attention to the square end of an impromptu spear lurching forth from the earth as something burst forth from the lake. In less than a second he found himself painfully pinned against a wooden wall by his chest, his wrists bound by wooden wall behind him as none other than Yamato landed near the base of the 'spear' in the company of two anbu, one of whom whipping out a tag and madly dashing up the rampart the 'spear' provided. As he ran towards Naruto the anbu made no effort to hide it what was a bomb tag resting in the palm of his hand, in turn causing Naruto to struggle against his bonds as he called on more of the Fox's chakra.

"You're already in enough trouble as it is, Naruto!" Yamato stated as he held a hand up which he supported, a series of square foo dog pillars erupted from the ground around him. "Just come quietly and we can sort this all out!"

 _Crack! BOOM!_

In a heave that would be impossible for anyone else Naruto heave both arms forth, once more cloaked in the power of his tailed-beast, destroying the restraints through brute strength alone, in turn creating a crater within the wall that was deep enough for him to bring his legs to his chest and kick out against the platform holding him in place. Though made of chakra enhanced wood the assault was too create, Naruto destroyed the wall in an explosion of splinters and came to a skidding halt on the lake's surface, six tales of chakra energy madly waving about and his body tensed as if he were afraid of moving altogether lest he destroyed something in a fit of rage.

"I don't know what they told you but if can't see that they're trying to kill me then how am I suppose to trust you in what you say?!" he bit out in an animalistic growl. Yamato only frowned in turn.

"They're only attacking you because you attacked one of their patrols," he sternly explained as he critically appraised Naruto's current state as his hand grasped itself tightly enough to audibly pop the joints in his hand. A deeper frown engraved itself on his face. "From the looks of it the Nine-Tails has affected your mind..." The totems around him twitched. "This is for your own good, Naruto!" As one the 'dogs,' like living snakes, stretched out and barreled towards the once genin who stayed still till he snapped his head up to balefully glare at the onrushing pillars. Rather than charge them or attack in any direct manner, Naruto cocked back his fist and punched the surface of the lake, the sheer power behind it in turn gave rise to a massive geyser of water that the 'dogs' rushed into. A second later the crest of the pillar of water exploded in the direction of the monument. As the pillar fell Yamato came to squint as he searched for Naruto only to look up as evidence would dictate an escape. To his dismay a figure, most likely the blond, was flying towards and past the cliff bearing monuments of both the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha in what must've been a empowered leap from the geyser.

"Above the cliff!"

Already the three darted toward the cliff face, all three of whom unaware of another anbu in the canopy of the tree line behind them. He took out a tanto and unsheathed it till only two inches of the blade was visible and, using the dying sun, he flashed the light off the blade to another section of the forest where another individual responded in kind. The man in the tree sheathed his blade and waited for only under a minute when a hawk far off cried out and took flight from within the forest, in the direction of the corresponding flash.

XVX

At the cry of a hawk a man in Konoha's uniform looked up and spied on a hawk perching itself on a nearby wall. Pushing himself off against the wall of an outpost he nonchalantly walked over to the hawk, carefully eyeing his surroundings as he did so, and took a small scroll fastened to the bird of prey's leg. As the bird flew off the second it was free of its burden he opened it and perused its contents before rolling it back up and stowing away in his flak jacket for added protection. Though he walked casually to the front door of the outpost with both hands behind his head, he walked in an urgency to ensure he didn't waste more time than he would've liked. In short order he passed the door, weaved past a kunoichi on her way out and made it to the desk where an elderly man attended.

"How may I help you young man?"

The shinobi pulled out the scroll and double checked its contents before handing him the scroll.

"On behalf of Konoha I would like to place Naruto Uzumaki into the free lance bingo book."


	3. Chapter 2

**I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status(in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point... In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only. Why else would it be in FanFiction?**

 **Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (** ** _OF DOOM_** **)!)**

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter Two: Life, both old and new

Land of Earth, four weeks later, fifteen years ago

By the time he opened his eyes he had already remembered where he was, how he got there and what had happened within four weeks since escaping Konoha. As if to affirm what he already knew despite the worn scowl on his lips which had yet to leave him for the past few days, he looked to the clothing that ended up replacing his tattered garb, the scrapped and chipped kunai he scavenged from the battles that plagued him, both of which coming from his defeated enemies, and the bingo book that ended up the closest thing to literature he ended up carrying with him for company... the Free Lance Bingo Book.

The concept of the bingo book was by no means unique throughout the Elemental Nations; each and every one of the five prime villages dutifully collected what information they could on rogue or, ideally, enemy shinobi with the hopes of eliminating them as a potential threat or, hopefully, collect the bounty associated with the target. Yet the five great villages of the Leaf, Cloud, Sand, Mist and Rock didn't have a monopoly of sorts on the concept of the bingo book, nor on any form of the idea of a village of shinobi. Few countries if any didn't have their own village and even then there was a loose clan of sorts, a congregation of shinobi either on the move for their own survival from rival groups or were on the run from others, most likely the villages they left behind... Even within the very lands hosting the greatest of the villages were such people, other villages and clans so to speak with no ties to the other villages, but due to the heavyset competition provided by their better named cousins few of these independent villages and clans existed within the Lands of Fire, Lightning, Wind, Earth and Water thanks to a severe lack of funding and aggression from other groups.

In the end for all their might none of the great villages had the capacity, the general intelligence or even the diplomatic authority to freely operate in other countries nor the manpower to continuously patrol their own borders. It was for this narrow, diverse graphic left unattended by the preferred villages that the Free Lance Bingo Book was intended for, regardless of the underlying purpose of the bounties associated with it be it to silence others or help eliminate dangerous targets by chance for example. To that end however it was relatively easy to get one's hands on these books, in turn they easily supplemented the bingo books belonging to the Five, updating them even in regards to rogues with bounties... especially large ones. Massive ones even... His own, as he learned, could jumpstart a new shinobi village by itself if the lucky bastards were frugal enough. Make a genin retire in luxury even should he suddenly turn up with the blonde's head held high as a trophy. With that said just about everyone everywhere who could hold a kunai in a fight or else wield a sword had forced him to change what plans he had cobbled together at each turn of the road; each town became a potential battleground for a skirmish amongst bounty hunters, a city an ambush for certain within its walls. It wasn't long that he had lost interest in fleeing to the Land of Waves, Spring, Ogres even for their relative familiarity lest they track him to there; more than enough bounty hunters were willing and able to endanger anyone willing to harbor him and even then he had learned that a smiling face could be just as deadly as an openly wielded knife, leading to more than one ambush in what he thought was a safe but temporary haven for himself and those like him. Even then he couldn't help but suspect what happened to him in Konoha could easily happen in the places he originally wanted refuge in, further discouraging the idea of seeking help from them much to his private shame.

Regardless, at the start of what would turn into the span of four weeks starting since his escape he had inadvertently traveled south, originally towards Wave, only to snake further south, sometimes walking, sometimes outright running through the tree tops, towards the first port available to reach Spring. By the second week he ended up trailing along the edge of the country, near the sea in a winding path in the direction of the Land of Lightning given the roads available. Though he didn't have either desire or reason to go to or come near Kumo in the first place he found himself reluctantly diverted himself towards the direction of the Land of Birds to the west, the Land of Hot Water in the north east soon after and back to the Land of Fire with meaning to after finally crossing the border... by then all the roads, all the pathways and trails began to blur with one another, what signs to give them a sense of meaning such as where they lead to and what dangers lie ahead having lost their meaning to him in the process as one attack after another at irregular rates began to take their toll on his body and mind; on some days it was one attack after another, others as many as one ambush whereas only two within the first two weeks were void of him having to hide at the least from his would-be captors; were it not for the Nine-Tails he suspected he'd die from sleep deprivation at some point, even by proxy by so much as failing to respond to an attack, much less slipping on an abandoned toy on a staircase.

By his third week he made his first kill within his entire conscious life, by accident for what it was worth. A man belonging to a team of mercenary brothers who saw an opportunity... in the days that followed their persistence turned into vengeful bloodlust brought on by the death of their comrade, forcing Naruto to kill off the rest of them as each consecutive death only seemed to enrage them to the brink of insanity...

Then there was the fourth week, the ratty end of which he had awoken to in the outcropping of rock along a ridge in the wastelands that made up the Land of Earth's western border, chasing a rumor that was as much his hope as it was a sense of purpose given he no longer had one. It was said that west of the mapped continent was a land without shinobi, dominated by samurai and daimyo as far as the eye could see that had no interest in their eastern cousins, especially since a desert said to take a week to cross served as a border between the Elemental Nations and themselves. Either way, neither nation or nations... whichever the case was, neither side had much contact with the other. If he had any chance for some semblance of peace then it was there, or at worst some land beyond that he doubtlessly never heard of since he never even knew of to begin with; every map he had seen thus far, old and new, only concerned itself with the Elemental Nations; for all he knew the rest of the world may as well never had existed as far as the Elemental Nations were concerned.

With a groan he sat himself up, reached into a stolen bag and produced a ration's bar for his breakfast as he sullenly eyed the stockpile of canteens he had more recently collected. He did a quick count and sighed as he counted fifteen, hopefully a good enough amount of water for someone as unfamiliar as himself when it came to a desert. With a grunt he hefted himself up, feeding himself as he did so, and bent down to in order to lay one strap after another on his shoulders in a crisscross pattern crossed his chest in an even number for balance sans the additional one to his right. With nothing pressing to warrant his attention he came to walk up the small outcropping of rock to get a better view of the only and hopefully only obstacle between him and a life of peace, or at least one without having to dodge shinobi and bounty hunters from the Elemental Nations at every turn.

XVX

Uzumaki Manor, present

He was startled out of his reminiscence by the familiar brown hand of his wife clapping his shoulder. "Been twenty minutes, _my lord_."

He rolled his eyes but smiled nevertheless as he turned to face her only to realize halfway through she had somehow stripped him down to his boxers long before she stolen his attention.

"Gah!" he jumped, his hands covering up what he may in unthinking surprise than anything else as she giggled to herself as she approached and opened up a wardrobe.

"It's not like there isn't anything I haven't seen before," she sighed as she began to pull out his more regal, relaxed wear, the sort he'd preferred to wear when he was going out for their humble colors which set people more at ease around him. The only thing clashing with the predominant browns and greens was the was the orange sash for a belt he insisted on wearing with it. The only item more ostentatious than that was the haori he would be constantly nagged to wear that bore the golden symbol of a four part whirlpool on its back and sleeves to remind people who he was... were the samurai, shinobi and already overly cautious _advisors_ who were already far steeped in ancient traditions weren't so 'insistent' in him wearing at least one item of imperial regalia on him outside of battle he'd do away with it as well as anything else of the sort; enough people walked on eggshells around him as it was, the cloaked only made it worse much to his annoyance.

... His eyes narrowed as he came to scowl at her. She grinned back at him in return.

"Why?" he stated more so than asked.

"I figured you'd be less moody this way," she replied as she began to pick out her own wear. A moment later she gave him a teasing grin. "And I know for a fact you're never at your best when you're moody." She winked at him and resumed her perusal of her clothing as well as small ornamental headdresses which one could easily adorn themselves with. As for her husband, he only rolled his eyes despite the small grin on his face as he moved to dress himself.

"You're son is still a little miffed by the way," she nonchalantly added.

"So the cookie bribe didn't work, eh?"

"Caught that did you?" She let out a playfully 'weary' sigh as she planted both hands on her hips, a decorative comb in one hand. "And here I thought I was being clever."

"Yes well save for that cat that hangs out at our porch, he doesn't tend to stay still for very long," he grumbled as he put on a pair of pants. "If it was ramen though I wouldn't have much of a problem with it."

She chuckled softly. "And how is it that ramen is different from cookies now?"

He looked up to give her a serious glare many an elder making a point. "Because ramen is food of the gods!"

It was her turn to roll her eyes, complementing it with a mild shake of her head. "You haven't convinced me what's so great about it twelve years ago and you're not doing it now." Her grin widened at his quieted grumbling as he continue to dress himself in near silent annoyance at his defeat.

"Do you think I should tell him?" he suddenly asked a few minutes into changing into his clothes, the sash fastening both his tucked in kimono shirt and pants in place. "How I became the emperor in the first place I mean."

She shrugged as she picked out a plum kimono and inspected it with a thoughtful frown. "Is this because of what happened earlier?" she asked.

"Sort of." He slipped into his haori one arm at a time. "But really I can't help but worry for him."

She didn't say anything as she stripped herself down to a a black bra and panties so as to dress herself in a kimono. "I suppose one day you'll find yourself giving him this talk. However I imagine it would be a few years from now when his cute little head starts getting to big for his own good. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up chasing fireflies out of boredom as he is now before you even get to halfway through your story," she added with a small chuckle.

"Fair enough," he relented in defeat, causing her to pause in mid wrapping of herself in her formal choice of dress.

"Of course any story could use a little editing here and there," she added. She turned her head and gave him a smile. "Besides, no matter how experienced I get with these kimonos it always takes me a few minutes. Not to mention do my hair."

"And I bet the shadow guards would enjoy a few extra minutes to plan and prepare," she added with a sly smile to match the one he gratefully gave her in return.

XVX

Yonzo Province, Fifteen years ago, night fall

Of the fifteen he had in his possession when he started only four canteens of water were left on his person, the rest either forgotten or outright abandoned along the way in pang of apathy under the sweltering heat. Regardless, he award himself a tired smile lit his face. In no less than seven days he had successfully crossed the desert and into the foreign nation just in time for nightfall. For a moment he simply stopped and basked in the cool breeze which felt alien to him thanks to the heat, watching the trees sway in the night in peace without being on alert for hopefully the flash of hardened steel for once in what felt like years.

 _Rumble._

Worryingly he looked up to the sky and found the stars which were as plenty as they were on any other night had already been halved along with a portion of the waning moon. Clouds already darkened with rain had drowned out half the sky in a sea of inked black darkness and moved rapidly to swallow up the rest of the night sky, bringing with it the smell of damp earth and the occasional jolt of lightning arcing to and fro within the clouds in the distance.

By the time he took his first step a light torrent of rain began to pelt him as the world became pitch black. A crack of thunder rocking his ear drums but a second later by the time he came to a full sprint to the forest that was before him.

To his luck he encountered no bushes or even low hanging branches to hinder him, leaving but the odd tree trunk he only discovered too late time and again in his rush the only enemy worth mentioning. Before he knew it he ended up traveling up the gentle slope of a hill, still hitting the occasional tree along the way even as he reached the apex of the hill and ran down it in a careful jog as the soil became inconsistent with mud. Despite his mild caution he slipped and slid anyway for a short distance as his other foot came down to find balance, thankfully finding purchase with stable ground in relatively flat terrain not even five feet from the top. Even in the rain he stopped and blew out an unwittingly tensely held breath in recognition for his safety before blindly wandering through the darkness once more at a slower pace, soon coming out into what felt like an open area, a spacious grove perhaps for all he knew.

 _"_ _Gah!"_

One as he learned in a familiar manner that had a wall. And a roof supported by which if the pattering of rain above was correct.

His hand blindly groped the wall as he began to strafe alongside of it. In short order he found a corner and slipped around it, his hand still on the wall and likewise repeated the process of what evidentially was a small dwelling of some kind. In the darkness he found a door, a shoji door which he opened without delay and ducked inside into the blissful cover from the rain. It was a half second however that he considered stepping out again considering he may have very well entered someone's home without permission. But between the rain and cover he decided to risk whatever reponse that would come from him being inside already.

"Hello?" he called out only to wait with nothing but the patter of the rain on the roof and the ground just behind him... he frowned and strained his ears as he thought he heard rain pouring into the room before him. "Is anyone in here?" He took a step forward, his foot bumping against a raised wooden floor which squeaked as he put pressure on it, and on a hunch reached out a hand in the direction of the third source of rain. He grimaced the moment his hand was made wet once more from what was doubtlessly a hole in the roof. Listening carefully, he couldn't help but suspect there was another breached in the roof somewhere in the darkness... "Anybody home?" he asked more quietly than before.

Frowning, he closed the door behind him and fumbled about in the dark for a dry spot. Though most of the abode, shed, whatever it could possibly be was dry for the most part he found shoulder in a corner where he sat himself with what few possessions he had set to his side, a knife in one hand all the while as he settled himself for whatever reprisal he might face come morning.

Clenching the knife out of habit and tying a string to ensure he didn't easily lose it in his sleep as he had in the earlier weeks in the Elemental Nations, he soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

XVX

Morning

Had he another change of clothes he would've changed into them after he woke up to the daylight streaming into the room. Yet between the chance of being discovered nude by accident or suffering from the exceptionally rare cold or some other sickness, he chose to remain in his soaked clothing as he ate his breakfast of ration bars and water as he eyed the one room building. The roof, as he suspected, indeed had two holes in it: one near the door where he first came in and the other sitting close to the corner to his right. Other than the entrance where a small gap of a dirt floor was present, most of the abode had a wooden floor save for a rectangular pit in the middle where a rusted pot had fallen from what looked to have once been a stand which collapsed onto the ground. Two of the pit's sides had a post sporting a hole near the top, a placeholder for what used to have been a solid rod of wood which doubtlessly broke under the pot's strain. Aside from the floor and the cooking pit and the wooden floor there was nothing else to be considered luxurious about the room despite the state of disrepair, the dust and the signs of warping underneath the holes, no doubt caused by exposure to the weather such as last night.

At long last he stood up, stretched his legs and made for the door, subsequently stepping out of the house to see what was previously hidden away under the cover of last night's storm. In front of the house was evidentially a road, a dirt one that nature was slowly coming to reclaim. Just before that, between him and the road, sat a yard overrun with wild vegetation from tall grass to shrubs to vines choking what may have been a fence barring casual passage from the road. It wasn't necessarily a yard however, that much he could tell. Perhaps it was meant to be one, yet no matter how he looked at it he couldn't help but think it as something of an unwitting extension of the larger portion of the yard to his right...

Squinting at something in the larger yard to the right he turns and leaves the safety of the abode to march towards something jutting up from the tall grass, covered in vines much like the suspected fence. When he reached it her grabbed it and attempted to yank it free only for the rod-like object to budge at the most. With a grunt he pulled on it once more with greater effort, this time being rewarded with the snapping of vines as he tugged. Taking a deep breath he stopped for a moment only to yank at it once more.

 _Snap!_

"Oof!"

For his efforts he managed to wrench the item free which miraculously didn't snap under the strain, yet he fell back regardless. Taking a moment to assess himself he looked at what was still clutched in his hands, his eye coming to draw itself on the rusty blade of a farming hoe which was caked with damp dirt.

"Huh..." In short order he stood up and turned around, turning full attention on the house as he held the tool at his side. The rooftop was in tatters, many of its shingles having fallen out or else stripped entirely as a handful of stones on the rooftop held what few remained in place. The walls themselves were dirtied, though they probably were far cleaner than they ever been in a long time thanks to the deluge that was last night; surrounding the front and back of the home were disorganized bundles of stones, most likely having slipped off the roof at one point or another.

At movement to his right his sight was drawn to an elderly man in worn clothing. His face from what could be seen of a unkempt beard was as haggard, his hair was slowly turning from gray to white. His garb was simple but worn like him with an obvious bit of stitching around the middle of his chest and elsewhere like his pants legs. His feet however were bare save for a pair of geta digging into the mud of the road, even then they were dirtied from recent travel. In his hands were the hand holds for the arms bearing a small covered cart which stood behind him. Like Naruto his own attention was directed at the only other person nearby. Unlike the blonde the older man seemed to be as tense as he was quizzical, observing, as if trying to divine who Naruto was and why he was there by the way the teenager was simply standing there alone.

Thinking of no better recourse at the moment. Naruto moderately raised his hand in a friendly wave as he gave the older man a reserved smile. "Hey!"

When the older man didn't answer his grin dropped slightly as old fears began to creep up already under the man's unrelenting stare.

"I'm not... intruding, am I?" he asked.

"You're from the lands to the East, are you not?" the man solemnly asked. Naruto, in turn, let loose a slight pent up breath in mild relief.

"Yeah!" he answered. "How can you tell?" he asked both out of curiosity and in hopes of keeping the conversation going.

"You'll find very few people within these lands with hair like yours," he answered solemnly as before, "Even then it would most likely be dyed." He dipped his head and closed his eyes in thought. "That and most carry an air to them only found amongst the nobility and samurai... both those with or without lords to serve." He returned his attention on Naruto. "So why are you here?" he asks.

Naruto's mouth made to answer him yet he cut himself off, a hand scratching the back of his head in nervous thought. "I see," the old man said a moment later as again he dipped his head and closed his eyes. "Whatever your intentions are, whatever you plan to do, heed this: for us those who come from the East bring nothing but trouble in their wake. I myself never heard of an outsider who hadn't sabotaged a prominent merchant, laid waste to an army or slain a warlord of great power... as such I warn you that those from the East are watched very carefully by everyone; a friendly greeting would be very rare in deed for you in these lands." Without looking he began to move, following the road with experience without needing to open them.

"H-Hey!" The older man stopped and turned to Naruto, one eye wearily cracked open as the teenager dashed up to him, hopping the fence as he did so. With the hoe in hand he came to stop to the man's side. "Thanks for the arning," he said with a slight, grateful smile which was worn away by a concerned frown. "But seriously though, was I... intruding here?" He gestured to the house, causing the man to look at it with a thoughtful frown as well. "I mean, does anyone live there...?"

"... No," he answered as he slowly turned away. "No one had lived there since the last son was conscripted for a war some years ago..." He began to saunter away, albeit decrepitly as if his spirit, body and mind were in three different places at once. "As such it's been abandoned and left to ruin, the last son either having died off and no longer cares enough for the plot of land he was born on to at least visit it in what time he has off... I doubt anyone would really care if someone took up residence there at this point."

"I see..." he muttered as the man walked off. Without a word he slowly treaded back to the long since abandoned house by means of the still soaked road and the 'gate,' or rather the gap in the fencing which constituted as such. He came to stand before the simple building and considered what to do given what he was told, minimal as it was. Should he stay? Find out if what the old man said was true about this nation in regard to "outsiders"? Or should he go? Avoid the hassle entirely and set out for another land where such animosity wasn't as likely? Now that he thought about it he wasn't exactly that far from the border at this moment... at least he didn't think so, it was hard to tell considering last night. Still, if he could find this by accident in a rainstorm then so can someone else from the Elemental Nations... _if_ they tracked him to the west at least. And if he were to leave, where to? Where would he even get any supplies short of stealing now that is sole source of resources was gone for the time being? And if he were to stay here, taking the old man's word at face value, who was to say he could even live here without arousing some nearby village's ire just for being a foreigner? Before he knew it he would probably be facing samurai thanks to them if the previous rumors were true, and if he were to beat or worse yet kill them then in all likelihood he would only make things a hell of a lot more difficult for himself. He might even have to flee this country without much of a plan just like he left the Elemental Nations, blindly crossing a country that would probably lynch him as soon as look at him if defeating some lord's samurai in self defense sent the wrong message.

With a sigh he scratched his head and made for the door as he tried to cram his worries into the back of his mind for the moment. It was his first day in this country and he didn't need to stress about the what ifs and what wills. For once in a very long time he was just going to spend the day doing nothing, contemplate nothing... rest up as he avoided thoughts of what to do and whether or not he should do something... or even ponder if he can ultimately survive his situation.

He pulled the door open once more and let his gaze drop to the floor as a flicker of something disappeared into the shadows of the abandoned house after its brief appearance in the morning light. He couldn't help but squint at the spot where it was last seen, coincidentally enough a small knothole he hadn't noticed before which lay underneath the first hole in the roof, right in front of him. With a frown he kneeled down and pressed his hand against the warped boards and with a single experimental push he grimaced at the sound of crunching. A part of him paused out of respect that this wasn't his home, yet given it's abandoned nature he couldn't help but continue by sticking a finger through the hole and pulling at it. A moment later it came free, The board effectively crumbling away in chunks as what was left was placed on the floor as he peered inside the hole he made with a reserved grimace.

He couldn't help but blink in confusion however at what he found.

A flower, a white daisy of all things sat underneath the board, in the darkness brought to light. Reaching out he brushed his fingers along the petals, confirming it was real...

How long had it been there? How did it even survive? Surely just a dab of sunlight from a knothole sized gap and something as fickle as the weather couldn't have sustained it all this time... It just wasn't possible... was it?

He smirked long before he realized it...

Was it not also "impossible" for him to take on Pain and defeat when he attacked when it was reduced to a one-on-one fight? Survive a prophecy of his very demise? To fight and defeat everyone with an ego and a borderline unnatural ability that was or was close to being a kekkei genkai? Neji back at the exams, especially when all he was taught was how to summon, which he was _forbidden_ to use? Hell, jinchuriki or not, he was willing to bet anyone would've died on their own with all the crap he went through back in the Elemental Nations! Even that cynical miser Kakuzu managed to survive since the First shinobi War, granted he essentially and quite literally stole the lives of others in the form of their beating hearts to extend his own life but he survived nevertheless, and as a bounty hunter himself no less! One under the employ of the Akatsuki, but still! If Naruto could survive all that, overcome the odds time and again then what were a few villagers who didn't like him just for coming from a different place? An army of samurai? Lords even? If he had to leave then so be it, but he was going to survive, turn around and laugh at all those who thought they could bring him down and start anew somewhere else!

And though he didn't have a dream to work to now, a goal to aspire too, he was going to start anew with the chance that was given to him now!

With a smile he regarded the flower with a "thank you" before standing up and dashing out the door in all haste. A second later he tore back through to his collection scavenged supplies which he rummaged through like a madman. Grabbing a holster of kunai he rushed back out the door and in no time ran down the road in the direction of the old man with the cart.

XVX

"Hey! Old guy!"

With a marked scowl the older man stopped in his tracks and craned his head to glare at the blond in a disapproving fashion as the younger man came to a stop in a slight pant.

"Sorry to bother you but are you by chance a trader or something?" He pointed at the cart, in turn causing the older man's eyes to narrow in suspicion.

"... Just to warn you, your..." he paused for a moment as if searching for the right word, " _paper_ currency was it?" At Naruto's nod he continued, elaborated even. "We put our faith more in coin than in paper than the East does; "paper money" would have little value here if at all."

At this Naruto grinned slightly and held up the case and produced a kunai from within in what he hoped was a non-threatening manner given the man's lack of reaction. "Would bartering work?" he asked, flipped the knife in his hand and presented the handle to the older man who went back and forth between the sheepishly grinning blond and the weapon.

To his relief the man accepted the knife and undid the tarp of his small wagon.


	4. Chapter 3

**I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status(in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point...** **In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Why else would it be in FanFiction?**

 **Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (** ** _OF DOOM_** **)!)**

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter Three: Beginning steps

Yonzo Province, fifteen years ago, one week later

For the better part of a week he had been keeping himself busied with hunting for food, discovering which plants and berries were or were not poisoned, but most of all weeding the homestead as well as patching up what he could. Throughout the entire week he had no visitors of any sort other than the old man he encountered earlier and again a few days later as he sauntered on by while barely sparing him a glance as the blond waved at him. If there were any other 'visitors,' including hostile ones, then Naruto didn't find them nor detect them in the least on either the road or in the surrounding forest.

With a decent amount of provisions stored away for himself, the roof patched up to the best of his ability and the field itself having been thoroughly weeded it was only a matter of time before he became stir crazy enough to want to risk talking to someone who may very well want to see his head on a stake for different reasons than almost everyone in the Elemental Nations for better or worse.

Yet rather than literally walk up to them and say "hi" he decided to do something he almost never done: plan things out... . A henge would be simple enough. It had to be a custom one however so as to not unwittingly draw attention to himself in the event said person was either famous enough to be noticed or simply well known enough to notice an oddity like being in two places at once, much less finding out later said someone was infamous like himself. That was certifiably phase one of his plan.

Phase two of his plan however gave him pause the more he thought about it... Say he were to go up to them, in disguise no less, what would he say? "Hello! I'm the guy who's living in that abandoned farm down the way!" What happens if that becomes an issue? Would he have to run again? Though he really had no ties to this land the notion alone terrified him... It was hellish onto itself trying to navigate through the Elemental Nations alone with almost every mercenary, bounty hunter and village on the hunt for him. Even then he at least had a map for the most part and some familiarity to boot. Here he had neither of those things, how would he fair in an unknown land with a people that hated him out of principle alone? He could simply keep his mouth shut about it and basically learn as much as he could before going back... 'home'... With luck, if anyone asks, they may think he was simply an exile or a hermit if they ever asked where he came from and where he was staying, provided of course they think he wasn't staying here. If worse comes to worse he could simply leave. If he was lucky in that regard then he could quite possibly make it out without incident and with nothing more serious than a griping lot of villagers as he relocated somewhere else. To another abandoned home perhaps if he stumbled across one? Or would he have to blindly amble about the countryside before realizing her was no longer within the... country? Nation? Out of the 'West' in general at least if he wasn't paying attention.

In the end long before he realized it half a day gone had gone by with nothing but him sitting in the exact same spot doing nothing more than clutch at his own arms right above the elbow in something of a contemplative choke hold. Seeing as he was stuck on "phase two" thanks to what ifs and scenarios of what may happen he relented from his thoughts to work on arduous task of making a henge with base made from scratch.

XVX

Village outskirts, the day after

With his entire afternoon dedicated to bringing about a favorable henge he was ready to meet the villagers so to speak. Yet unfortunately he was still working on the second phase of his plan and thus barely had anything at all other than a few general questions. Stuck as he was he decided to remedy his more current problem, at least in part, by finding the first village he could find and observing them from a distance. To that end he ended up following the path the elderly merchant took in hopes of finding such a village.

What he didn't know however was that the road the man took had been reclaimed by nature at some point; grass had long since covered the dirt road and the forest which surrounded him to begin with had sprouted enough brush for him to follow what he _thought_ was the road. In the end he found a village though. More to his luck he ended up spying on it from the side of a hill basking in the collective shade of the forest which surrounded most of it.

As he observed the village it was obvious that yhere were no walls as far as he could tell. It was a fairly small farming community with its fields plowed yet bearing no obvious crops as of yet. The people were open and friendly, at least towards each other. Going into and out of the village proper were nothing but a pair of dirt roads, one more used than the other as nature slowly reclaimed the other one. Of the village itself it was a motley collection of homes and what appeared to be a storehouse, each building well maintained if not a little bit run down... He couldn't help but frown slightly in confusion as he noticed no power lines; destitute as it was back then even Wave had power lines and electricity, not that they could afford to use it much at the time thanks to Gato and his army of thugs. Was this village on the outskirts of the country? It wasn't unheard of at least for a rural village not to have anything more luxurious than a light bulb back in the Elemental Nations. Then again it also wasn't unheard of for power lines to run underground so not to disturb the scenery.

Regardless, no matter what the case may be he eventually found himself mapping escape routes and was simultaneously looking out for any sign of danger for what may have been an hour... a habit he unfortunately picked up in hopes of improving his ability to survive given his recent experience. For better or worse it certainly saved him from more obvious ambushes and the more dimwitted opportunists, few though there were even when combined. At the utter least it helped him know what to expect as far as terrain went when he managed to take the time to look ahead at what is _suppose_ _to_ _be_ an innocent little town or village... not that it lessened his nerves by any great stretch. Even during his week in seclusion, a vacation of rest considering the previous weeks, he couldn't help but look over his shoulder on occasion whenever he heard a rustle amongst the foliage and trees only to find a bird during the day or at best a badger minding its own business at night.

It was just said rustling that swiftly drew his attention away from the village to the forest behind him. As he turned he discreetly slid the ring of a kunai's pommel into his hand from his 'sleeve' which he sandwiched between his hand and his leg to conceal, hidden from anyone who may have innocently stumbled onto him yet ready if he needed to defend himself.

From the brush came a man looking to be in his early thirties, someone built from a lifetime of physical labor despite being Naruto's own unaltered height. Roughly everything not of his skin was brown, his hair, his mustache, his eyes and even the frayed grass-like sandals on his feet. His semi-worn pants had obviously seen better days as made evident with the patchwork on it. His open vest and the darkened, dirtied shirt just underneath were only a step ahead. Atop his head and keeping his hair at bay was a headband. On both arms, one of which holding an axe with a large blade aloft on his shoulder and the other carrying a bundle of finely chopped wood in the crook of his arm, were a pair of arm bands situated around his wrists. He stared and blinked at Naruto, taking in what he would see as a black haired man just entering his twenties, plainly clothed in brown much like the older man only with a trim of white for his pants, and relatively simple sandals made of 'wood.'

"Did you get lost?" the man suddenly asked.

"I—uh... Well—" Naruto attempted to say something with a nervous laugh when the older man cut him off with a boisterous one of his own.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about! Hell, I and half of the village got lost on that road a couple of times by accident! And certainly more than a few merchants tried taking that old road as some kind of short cut before finding out half of it is missing!" Without missing a beat he walked over, craned his head enough to wedge the handle of the axe between his shoulder and neck so as to free his hand and clapped the disguised shinobi's shoulder. "So what brings you to Yama?"

"Well..." he started only to cut himself off in hesitation. As much as he thought about it he couldn't think of anything believable to use on anyone let alone himself. As such there was only one conversational piece that he could think of that would be reasonable enough to not arouse suspicion was the very one he was reluctant to use, assuming of course he had an insane amount of luck... the only cold comfort he could think of to remedy this was for all he knew the old man had stayed here for a bit at least alluded to Naruto's stay there, compromising his existence already if only to an extent. "... I was wondering about that abandoned little farmstead down the road..."

The older man blinked in confusion as he lowered his hand after retrieving his axe. "Farmstead? What are you—" He halted himself and cupped his chin in thought. "Yeah now that I think about it... yeah, the man who lived there got conscripted or something when I was a kid." He looked up at Naruto with an inquisitive look. "What do you want to know about it?"

"I was wondering if I had to talk to someone in particular here if I wanted to, say, move in," Naruto all but nervously offered, his hand uncomfortably massaging the back of his neck to hide his apprehensive state. Already he could think of how things would end badly for him in the span of the next hour.

The older man perked up a brow. "Really? Kind of isolated isn't it?" He gestured to the village. "If you're wanting to join our little village then I don't think anyone would mind letting ya live with them for a bit. After you get the Village Chief's permission of course," he said with a smile.

The shinobi laughed a bit nervously. "I'd rather not inconvenience anyone like that," Naruto replied.

"Eh, suit yourself then." He hefted the axe along his shoulder and made to descend the hill they were on. "Let's go see the Chief then!"

Blinking in mild confusion Naruto soon followed after the older man. "Uh, thanks!" he all but mumbled. "But I don't want to bother—"

"You're not bothering me kid!" the man laughed just before coming to an almost abrupt halt. He turned to him with a small frown. "By the way, I didn't catch your name there..."

For a split second Naruto panicked in the safety of his own mind which screamed in terror. He didn't stop to think about whether or not to come up with a name! Immediately a part of him wanted to admittedly blurt out his own name and yet he kept quiet; as much as he wanted to believe the old man, for all he knew the lands to the west had at least _some_ ties with the Elemental Nations, unfriendly as they might be... Then again he did go through the effort of making a disguise for a reason. An ounce of safety as the Third used to say.

"Jiraiya," he stated without thinking it through till it was too late. By the time he clenched his teeth in self rebuking frustration the older man closed his eyes as he let out a small but boisterous laugh. "Call me Taro! Sorry for not introducing myself earlier!" Once more the man began to meander down the hill, leaving a solemn Naruto to listlessly follow as he guiltily berated himself for making use of pervy-sage's name on an unthinking whim.

Before long they had reached the village proper where he did his best to hide away his sullen mood, bottling it up for the time being as curious eyes idly swerved to them. More than a few faces were friendly enough to smile and wave at them, as to who those were actually meant for he could only guess. As expected however more than a few were carefully observing him, more often than not with a small frown. Otherwise as for the most part it was nothing but a normal village as he had observed before, the elderly sitting on the occasionally spotted bench, people returning from the fields and milling about or else practicing some other vocation, and children running amok on the streets during one game or another. Yet there was no sign of any sort of modernization; no light bulbs to illuminate the darkened indoors. No glass windows, just wooden frames and coverings for them often in the form of a propped up wooden flap. Evening spying on a passing carter with a bandana acting as a face mask he would willingly wager that there was no plumping as well.

Looking up as soon as he realized they were moving up the gentle slope of a hill he quickly deduced exactly where it was the village chief resided in, the one and only two story house within the village, the second largest building of the village outside of the apparent storehouse; like the others the walls were cracked from age, the roofing tiles weathered. Just before they neared the front door it had slid open, revealing an elderly woman of silvery jaw-length hair who wore brown robes, a headband intricately patterned with blue and white triangles with square dots of the opposite color in each of them keeping her hair at bay much like Taro. In her hands was a thick cane which she used to help herself hobble out of the house. In quiet surprise she looked up at the two of them and observed the obvious stranger of the two. With a courteous bow she greeted them. "I am Fujiko, leader of this village. Or rather deferred to as much since no one has claimed that title just yet. What is it that I may help you with?" she asked with a kind smile.

Naruto flashed her a smile, one he hoped that didn't show any of the anxiety hidden away by it. "I'm Jiraiya," he introduced himself with a slight bow, a semi-conscious twitch of angst held at bay for the time being. "I know this is an odd question but..." he mildly turned in the general direction the faded road and pointed beyond it. "... I was wondering if I would be upsetting anyone here or another nearby village if I lived in that farm down the road?"

She blinked in confusion for a moment as she frowned at him in thought. A second later her eyes widened at an unspoken realization. "I see..." She closed her eyes and drew a small breath. "I'm almost too embarrassed to admit it but I almost completely forgotten about it." She softly sighed as she wearily eyed him. "To answer your question, young man, that if anyone would be upset it would be me, pointless as it is," she admitted. She closed her eyes as she recalled her knowledge of it.

"My last remaining nephew once lived there after my brother died, growing exotic crops in relative peace in hopes of fetching more coin for our village when they were sold. As successful as it was it was unfortunately short lived when he was conscripted to fight a war in the north... No one, not even I had heard any news of him since then." She sighed and regarded him with a thoughtful frown for a moment. "Ever since the new daimyo succeeded his father he has been placing stricter regulations on who would travel and to where; outside of what few traders that are left you would almost find no one traveling the roads anymore, much less living as far out as that farm." She grew quiet and dipped her head. "If they are lucky then anyone other than a merchant would simply be forced back to the village. If not then a much worse fate may befall them."

At 'Jiraiya's' subtle, uncomfortable shifting Taro laughed much like he had before. He even went as far as to set the axe down to slap the teenager on the shoulder. "But for better or worse those bullies at the nearby outpost have been getting fat and lazy! Otherwise they would've found you long ago!" he laughed till it died down with a frown of dour note. "Of course the trade off is that we have to be more wary of bandit attacks than before."

"Indeed, it is," she agreed with a slight nod. "To answer your question you will not have any problems from us if you wish to reside there. However you would be in peril more so out there than here. Say what you will of them but bandits tend to stay away from large numbers of village folk. They would risk the direct ire of the daimyo if so many of his farmers suddenly fell to them."

"I see," he said as he scratched his head in thought, a matching frown on his face as she carefully scrutinized him for reasons unknown. As much as he would've liked to wonder about that he couldn't help but preoccupy himself with his current dilemma. The abandoned farm as it stood gave him relative secrecy and a place to stay to start anew even if it meant he was no longer a shinobi under the strictest of terms. Yet apparently it also meant that he may have to keep an eye out for patrols of soldiers and roaming bandits if he didn't want to be relocated or attacked in general. On the other if he were to take their offer then he would have to keep his guard up almost every minute of the day and even into the night; one severe enough scratch to his henge or the complete lack of concentration afforded by sleep would force him back to his real appearance. Yet since at the most he only cleaned the farmstead it up and performed minor repairs at the cost of only a few of his kunai in trade for some supplies to do so he wasn't exactly burdened to stay either.

Either way it went, would it be better for him to stay, or would he be better off leaving altogether in the end?

Suddenly the older woman tilted her head down, her eyes closed and with a knowing smile. "In any event if you wish for company and to stay for a few nights here then all you need to do is ask. I only ask you don't stay overly long without giving us something of an answer."

He flashed her a smile, one he hoped didn't show the unease he felt as he continued to mull things over. "Thank you for the offer," he said before bowing and departing soon after. With a sigh he began to rub the back of his neck as he traveled down the path from the chief's house.

He was just about to reconsider his options once more in relative seclusion when the panicked shouts of the villagers grabbed his attention, forcing his senses to become alert, looking about in confusion as people ran to and fro whilst he again discreetly had the pommel of a kunai in the palm of his hand. It was only a moment later that the distant thunder of hooves was heard by him as the horses drew closer in a full gallop. It wasn't long after that the rambunctious shouts of men were barely heard over the charging horses whom ran into plain view in the equivalent to the village's square, eight in total wearing ragged samurai armor. They all came to a halt at the storehouse and the men hopped off their horses. All but three of them stormed into the building as the others waved their swords menacingly at the villagers, most of which fleeing out of principle whilst a few returned with pitchforks or any other makeshift weapon they could gather on short notice. Yet as angry as they were they didn't charge the samurai even as their number slowly doubled the entire band of raiders. As Taro joined with the angry mob, speeding past Naruto, his pack of cut wood seemingly forgotten in a scattered heap on the ground in his haste, the shinobi himself found himself frozen after taking one step forward, his mind already awhirl with the variations of worse case scenarios...

As the number of farmers was just about numbering to twenty the rest of the bandits burst out from the storehouse, arms laden with sacks of what he could only guess to be grain judging from how malleable they were upon being thrown onto the horses. Not even a second was wasted as the men themselves jumped onto the horses and charged into the crowd, initially dispersing the villagers who neither wanted to be trampled nor slashed at as the samurai waded through them, buying enough time for the ones still on foot to mount their own horses and join in on the escape as they muscled through the crowd of angry villagers, their escape made all the easier as most were knocked aside by the horses or knocked down from a lucky block of swinging katana. As they quickly gained ground from the villagers they victoriously laughed loud enough to be heard over the dimming thunder that was their retreat.

As for the mob of villagers, those that didn't feebly try to chase after them stood there as if stricken with somber horror. A few of them even collapsed onto their knees and wept. Curious at best, feeling guilty at worse for choking up without warning, Naruto slowly approached Taro from his side as the older man he gazed out at the dwindling figures that were bandits. "No one got hurt did they?"

Listlessly the older man looked to him with what little energy he seemingly had at this point. "No," he stated. "Sadly though I can speak for all of us that we'd rather have dead comrades rather than our already meager harvest stolen."

Naruto couldn't help but let a confused frown slip through his reserved facade. "I'm afraid I don't understand," he carefully said, earning a frown from the older man himself as he fully addressed the shinobi.

"You're definitely not from this country are you?" The moment 'Jiraiya' shook his head the older man heavily side as his spirit seemed to leave him. "I really hate telling this," he grumbled as he dully scratched the back of his head, his eyes closed while doing so.

"As much as we hate it there's a reason we're bullied into staying in our villages," he said. "Apparently the Daimyo of our province made a 'deal' with the Daimyo of the Shiki, one of our more stronger 'neighbors...' one of many honestly. In exchange for peace between our countries then ours is to never have a standing army of samurai and we are to trade them koku by the hundreds, or at least food in general in bountiful amounts. If the Lord or any of his retainers can't get so much as the minimum of our potential yield from any of the villages then they purchase koku from other lands." His eyes opened at last as he scowled at Naruto, though not necessarily at him per se. "Unfortunately they found a good way to mix in their trade with punishment as well. Wakai, one of the northern countries, makes its living in the slave trade. If their tax isn't paid then villagers from the failing villages are taken and sold them to Wakai..." He regarded the crying men who were being pulled up and slowly escorted away by their sullen neighbors. "... while its said they pay generously for anyone sold to them if they're in good health, from what we hear they are willing to pay for young women for a far heftier price, no questions asked." He drearily sighed as what life left in him seemed to have left him. "Regardless, be it money or food given in trade, the Daimyo _will_ get his tribute..."

At the shinobi's stunned silence he turned away and began to listlessly amble towards the village in general. "What they stole may not have not looked like much but we as a community survived solely because of it," he mumbled aloud. Any interest he had in being heard was long since gone. He looked like he wanted a drink, a strong one to demolish his senses and rewrite today by some miracle. Nor was he the only one with this look.

Without a word Naruto left, no one taking great notice or even cared for him doing so, leaving him to his thoughts as he quietly watched what was once a vibrant village now look to be in the throes of a funeral's wake as news quickly of what had just happened spread like wildfire. Men, women and children came together with their families and embraced one another as if it were the last time any of them were going to be seen, more than a few already crying into each other's arms who desperately tried to console them or else looked like apathetic corpses that still drew breath... Looking at them and their darkened eyes, their dead eyes, glazed over and dimmed for what was to come, he couldn't help but wonder if that's what he looked like to everyone else on that day where everything went to hell for him. Even as they embraced their loved ones with what warmth they could muster in the face of a coming tragedy he couldn't help but wonder if he would've found some kind of solace in the arms of others even if they couldn't do a damned thing about his expulsion as a shinobi... Did anyone see him sulking and not even consider lending a hand? Was it even in their power to help him in some fashion to begin with? Would it have made a difference if someone took a minute out of their lives' to help someone trying to accept what life had just dealt them?

... Probably not. Yet it would've been nice anyway. Just like when the real Jiraiya died... The only difference however is that no one was willing to offer a hand when it was needed. Perhaps no one could.

As of right now though he could.

Clenching his hand, he took a moment to stop and look behind him to see if anyone was watching him. Finding none and looking off into the distance where the bandits fled as well as the tree line that followed it, he dashed toward the nearby woods. As soon as he passed the first set of trees and was confident that the shadows provided by the canopy hidden him away he jumped up to the first convenient branch he could find and raced off in the direction where the raiders had fled.

XVX

Forty-three minutes later

Though admittedly it was more along the lines of luck that he found it, he did suspect that if they made camp anywhere then it would be out of sight, away from the one and only road and into the woods where prying eyes wouldn't casually spot them. Still, hidden as it was they weren't even half as cautious as he would've thought. That and it also helped when a veritable army of clones had spread out to find them to begin with.

The camp itself was located in a clearing amongst the forest. What made it peculiar however was the sheer size of the camp, easily undermanned by the eight raiders whom taken to relaxing on bed rolls or whatever entertainment they could scrounge up for themselves by either manning a pot hosted over a freshly started fire or even tending to the horses. If he had to guess then based on the sheer number of tents and rolled up bedrolls left outside then the camp itself was meant for thirty or so bandits. Though it wasn't exactly out in the open, it was obvious to see where they left their hoard of stolen goods, it being out in the open in the midst of several of the haphazardly placed tents, their entrances trained on the collection of treasure chests and scrolls as well as small hand held statues of gold, silver or some other metal, atop them all were the recently stolen sacks of the villager's grains. The overall hoard itself was small, all things considered, yet it was considerable enough to be spotted from the more open areas of the camp including where the bandits currently were.

Glancing about he considered his options: rush in, steal the food and other valuables and flee with his clone army? They certainly wouldn't be able to follow him in the trees even with horses— not only would they lose him but there was virtually no way would they could track him short of climbing onto the tree branches themselves to look for foot prints. On the other hand it was obvious that they were part of a larger group who were most likely out conducting raids as well. In other words other villages were most likely suffering the same predicted fate as Yama at this very moment... and he didn't know where any of them were... The Yama villagers might though. There had to be some line of communication, right? Or at least they had a vague, generational knowledge of where they are, right?

In any case if the camp was attacked before rather than after the others showed up then in all likelihood they either seek vengeance or worse yet decide to move elsewhere and pick up where they left off; taking what they want without a damn about who they left hurting in their wake.

With a grim sigh he sat himself down on the branch which he had long since arrived at to observe the camp below. Though he had resolved to wait out for the rest of the gang to arrive with their spoils he did however wish they would arrive soon. Waiting on or waiting out an enemy was never his thing especially now that he had no reason to "wait out" an enemy. And with luck they would accept a simple clobbering as enough reasoning. If there was anything an outlaw begrudgingly respected then it was a bloody or bloodied show of force, and frankly he'd rather avoid another vengeful bloodbath again if they were anything like those mercenaries... Regardless of how he did it, nothing was ever going to happen till the rest had arrived where he could better judge what he was getting into. If absolutely nothing else, should worse came to worse then he could simply overwhelm them with his clones, using them as a distraction as he and a number of which made off with the stolen goods.

With nothing better to do he ended up watching the bandits below who continued to busy themselves at a relaxed pace. For the most part as they milled about the camp, finding things to do to pass the time as the vibrant blue sky slowly and eventually succumbed to a dusty red-orange as time wore on with no one coming to the camp in the meantime. As agitated as Naruto was he couldn't help but notice that the bandits below were becoming just as irate as he was as they too began to loudly wonder why no one else had shown up as of yet. It was only at the verge of night when they were beginning to set up a campfire when two horses entered the camp, only one of which bearing a rider much like them. Unlike them however he was sporting an arrow sticking out of the back of his shoulder.

Immediately the others flocked to him, asking him questions and attempting to pull him down only for him to refuse. Instead he frantically waved at them, to the horses with his uninjured arm, barely any of which he said to them was legible enough for Naruto to understand in the man's apparent panic. Yet before he deigned to get up and attempt to get closer in hopes of better understanding what it was that made him frantic the men below hurriedly rushed to their horses and mounted them as only one rushed to the pile of loot, grabbing the first gold statue he could find and making off to a horse like the others. In short order they all fled, each ushering their horse into a full gallop into the forest. Not a minute after disappearing completely did their surprised cries shriek through the forest and the distinctive sound of swords clashing clanged throughout the darkened wood. Seeing no reason to stay, Naruto leapt from his spot and dashed through the now abandoned camp in a beeline to the stolen goods. As he drew near he brought his hands together in the shadow clone seal, conjuring forth nine copies, all of whom including himself diving at the sacks and snatching them up. For a brief moment however they hesitated as they considered whether or not to take some of the other stolen baubles. Their collective musings were cut short however as a rider-less horse burst through the camp from the brush in a blind panic, trampling over what it could whilst the battle died down in the forest. Taking it as his cue to leave the shinobi and his clones absconded to the tree tops with the stolen sacks of food, leaving behind the valuables in an off chance that rather than retribution it was a rival band of bandits after their hoard treasure. By the time anyone stepped into the camp he had long disappeared into the forest as night fell with finality.

XVX

Yama, night

Given what had happened hours beforehand it wasn't too surprising that there was no one up to begin with despite it behind night. Even the sheer aura of the village itself made it a borderline ghost town that even the crickets dared not to chirp. For what it was worth however it made reaching the storehouse without being spotted all the easier considering no one wanted to leave their home thanks to both their weariness and depression.

One by one he and his clones had entered the storehouse, each disguised as a precaution as they carefully navigated the dark room filled with a semi-unorganized assortment of boxes and farming tools for spots viable for the reclaimed sacks of their harvest. It wasn't easy however in the dark; thick as they were he and the clones were fairly sure they would risk slicing the bags open by accident in their search for spots for them to be spotted easily where they wouldn't crush a box or rest on an upturned hoe amongst other carelessly abandoned, mildly sharp implements. After finding a spot and planting a sack or two in said spot the clones responsible dispersed, eventually leaving 'Jiraiya' by himself as he wandered throughout the darkness with the last of the bags in his grasp. Given what he could tell from the clone's memories it was fairly safe to say that had managed to scatter the bags throughout the entire room, whether or not they could be seen was a potential issue however given that he had nothing to light the room with. Hefting the bag up he decided to waddle towards the door with the intent to lay the bag against its frame as a more obvious tell that their crop had returned. And without incident he did.

Satisfied that his work was now complete he left the storehouse and meandered into the street where he stopped and looked up, basking in the moonlight with a slight smile before wandering off again. He hadn't gotten more than a few feet into his journey however when a soft snap drew his attention to an alleyway. Curious, on guard, he debated whether or not to have a kunai at the ready as he drew closer at a wary speed should it simply be a villager curious to what he was doing. Long before he reached it however a tanuki slinked out of the darkness with what appeared to be a twig caught in its maw. It glanced at him as it passed by, ultimately slipping into the darkness once more of another alleyway behind him.

Satisfied, he left with a mildly impish grin as he imagined the shock on everyone's faces once morning comes. It wasn't till he had long since left the village in a unhurried run that a small figure crept out of the alleyway from before. It peeked around the corner before looking over to the storehouse to which it soon wandered over to in evident curiosity.

XVX

'Farmstead', morning

 _Clack-clack-clack!_

The blond bolted upright with a kunai in his grasp only to find himself the sole occupant of the entire house. Morning had come, its light creeping in through the cracks in the one window's shutter and the closed paper door that a darkened figure's shadow obscured thanks to the morning sun. Grunting and praying to whatever god that was listening he henged into 'Jiraiya' as quietly as he could, his arms waving frantically about to attempt to dispel the smoke emitted from the act all the faster. It was only when he was satisfied that nothing was out of place that he finally got out of the ragged futon he had successfully haggled from the old man and darted to the door. Upon opening it he couldn't help but be surprised to find Fujiko, the village chief, standing at his doorway.

"Um... good morning?" he said, all the while trying to deduce whether or not he was as secretive as he thought he was last night or if this was simply a matter regarding his stay in the very house he stood in.

"May I come in?" she asked suddenly without much in the way of a preamble. Confused and concerned, he stepped back all the same and motioned toward the inside of the house even as she shuffled herself inside.

"It's been quite some time since I was last here," she muttered to herself in thought as she looked over the spartan room from corner to corner. Looking down she couldn't help but notice the hole in the floor which she had to mindfully step away from. Looking up she couldn't help but scowl at the patching Naruto managed to plant on what was both the roof and ceiling. "I see the years hadn't been particularly kind to this farm during my absence. Or rather not until you arrived that is. I could only imagine what it was like had I visited earlier."

Though her attention wasn't on him he rubbed the back of his neck anyway. "Well there _were_ a lot of weeds," he admitted. She only nodded in return with a small, slightly worn smile hinted with nostalgia.

"I can only imagine... thank you though." She turned to him and fixated the entirety of her attention on him. "Not only for repairing this farmstead as best as you could but for returning our stolen harvest as well."

He couldn't help but freeze a little. "I'm sorry?" he inquired automatically in startled panic without thinking in the slightest. At this she smiled in a knowing fashion, one that held a smug sense to it begot from lifelong experience.

"You are not the first shinobi to have ever set foot in our village before," she explained. Her smile only growing at his expense as he began to sweat on the spot.

"I'm sorry?"

She chuckled softly to herself, her eyes closing for a brief moment while doing so. "You have a great many tells unfortunately," she offered. "While your ignorance could be construed as an immigrant coming into our country, our village in particular is nowhere near close enough to border the territories of the neighboring lands. Even if they were to take to the forests or the mountain and avoided the Daimyo's men altogether their clothes would never be as pristine as the ones you wear now." He glanced down at himself and grimaced much to her evident amusement. "You of course are not a of the Banten shinobi either as they keep to the forests as far from sight as they can for the sake of their very survival. Abandoned as it is that farm is too open for their tastes. Not to mention of course that as of last night my own granddaughter saw you with nine other 'men' enter the storehouse with our stolen harvest. And yet only you left it without the a trace of the others having been there beyond what was returned."

At long last her smile faded into a small, almost serious frown. "With that said most people, even shinobi found in this country and others, have little hope of reclaiming everything that was stolen from us from bandits who were most likely samurai from other lands. In all my years I know only one type of person who could do that and not receive a single scratch in the process. " She closed her eyes once more for a moment of thought before scrutinizing him once more. "You're a shinobi from the eastern lands," she deduced with finality.

"I'm sorry!?" he squeaked before he could restrain himself as the sweating became more dire. Again her smirk returned as she shook her head.

"Don't think us as ungrateful," she remarked. "We're not about to chase you out when you done us a service without asking for anything in return." She frowned. "Or were you hoping to accrue favor with us by doing so?"

Still in shock he couldn't give a proper response as he half eyed the door, again much to her evident amusement.

"Still, in any event we're grateful. As we speak the entire village is trying to scrounge up what they can from the surrounding forests to hold a celebration in your honor and we would like you to attend it."

With a bow she turned and made to leave, stopping and turning around only to a half unintelligible "wait!" was uttered by the disguised shinobi. "Shouldn't you... uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to marshal his thoughts. "I thought Easterners..."

As if sensing what he wanted to say she answered him, bowing her head down and closing her eyes in thought. "They have certainly developed and earned their reputation within the warring countries beyond your borders throughout the years," she replied. "Yet the actions of one person doesn't inherently mean they were the will of others. I lived long enough learning that much at least." Smirking, she turned to the door and leisurely shuffled to it. "If it's any consolation you're not the first to have visited our village and helped us when it came to bandits either. I'll see you at the celebration if you choose to come." Without further ado she slipped through the door and closed it behind her, leaving the blond by himself with nothing but his thoughts which slowly organized themselves to soak in what had happened...

Scratching his head he simply stood there as he considered what to do in light of recent events...

Slowly, almost reluctantly he made for the door as well at long last.


	5. Chapter 4

**I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status (in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point...** **In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Why else would it be in FanFiction?**

 **Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (** ** _OF DOOM_** **)!)**

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter Four: When in Yonzo...

Yonzo Province, fifteen years ago, two months later

He couldn't help but grin as he knelt down and inspect the sprouts shooting out of the tilled soil. Each one a pumpkin waiting for maturity, courtesy of Old Lady Fujiko who kept some seeds as a memento of the previous owner. With a sigh however he stood up and patted at the hand stitched pants, a gift from the villagers amongst other things such as a worn shirt and a bandana.

Given that he had long since cleared the land beforehand there wasn't much for the villagers to teach him other than how to prepare the land, till it, plant seeds and so on. Other than that and watering them every now and then he had nothing else to do other than train in secret to keep his skills sharp and to at least _try_ to expand his repertoire of skills. _Try_ being the keyword of course; it was a full week before he could taste food normally again after attempting to recreate Sasuke's fireball technique. If training became too dull for him, which frankly surprised him, he would put his skills to the test by hunting the local game if he could find them or else follow the occasional patrol of soldiers he found on the roads, occasionally messing with them where he could for his own amusement. But if all else failed, and he's been finding himself doing this more and more as of late when his exercises were done, he visited the village and essentially spent the rest of his day there mingling with the others, playing with the children and helping out when they, the village in general, wanted it...

And this day would not be so different from his burgeoning routine.

Double checking the bandana he had received from the villagers to keep the majority of his hair hidden, he henged himself into 'Jiraiya' whom was dressed as he was now in his farmers clothes before setting off through the trees. A moment later he came back, grumbling to himself as he dug out some canvas from under the house. Soon the sprouts were covered by the collective amount of cloth as a precaution should a patrol wander by and actually bother to notice someone was living there.

XVX

Yama outskirts

Being something of a local celebrity for saving their stock for the taxes to come, it felt much like the time he came back after defeating Pain... before he was he expelled from the ranks. Unlike in Konoha however the people here were a bit less... reserved. People often were greeting him heartily in the streets, often in a shout that drew both attention on himself as well as people out of whatever they were doing, napping included, to either greet him or else attempt to crush him in a bear hug. More often than not people would give him a gift of some kind when they were able to be it in the form of knickknacks or snacks, or even sometimes a marriage proposal to their available daughters...

Needless to say he had to politely decline those offers. The snacks he took without argument however.

Sadly however there was at least one distinct problem whenever he visited the village that only grew worse as time wore on and the story of his 'raid' on the bandit camp grew more preposterous despite the utter truth, baring a few facts here and there involving his jutsu of course... In the end though he ended up looking over his shoulder more so than he would've liked for a danger which was becoming worse than the time he spent on the run— his stalkers. Compromised virtually half of the village's star-struck eligible daughters and almost the entirety of their widows, some of whom were more... dangerous than others than he would've cared to learn. But unfortunately there was ultimately nothing he could do without feeling guilty in the least... On the bright side though it helped him better identify who's who in the village. Namely anyone who held some sort of authority to repel them should things become truly dire for him.

Unfortunately that didn't always work out as well as he would've liked.

Still, at any rate, in their own way they provided a different sort of training for him... namely how well he could discern a trap lying in wait or else how fast he can escape without resorting to an overly obvious use of chakra. Not that it always worked though, especially when they ambushed him; they were surprisingly crafty, much less sneaky for civilians. Especially the older women... more so the ones who he learned had a fetish for bondage, amongst other thing...

Within the forest bordering the village Naruto came to an abrupt halt as a mix of a disapproving frown and a grimace. "Pervy-Sage would love it here were he in my shoes," he groaned. He shuddered and rubbed his arms to dispel the feeling of his flesh crawling...

It didn't really help much.

 _Rustle!_

"Oh please no..."

" _Charge!_ "

Rare though it was, they did ambush him in the forest time and again. Immediately he breathed out a sigh of relief however as the figures lying in wait came at him with exaggerated war cries. Instead of being ambushed by his more stalkers once more, it was the kids from the village, or at least a fraction of them coming at him with tree branches and old worn balls.

In a sense however they were his other 'stalkers' too. Ultimately disorganized and as whimsical as children ought to be, they were the another consequence of the story of his recovery of their crops. Unfortunately though, for him at least, they only came after him in hopes of proving a rumor he had learned to have been passing about the village borne from the cynics and speculators, one that, much to his chagrin, helped explain why he refused to move into the village proper: even if unguarded, who better to sneak off with stolen grains than a shinobi? No one chased him after all. No tracks were left behind even when he entered the village with his clones. And surely it would've taken a normal person much longer than himself to get there and come back! It was not confirmed however, for them at least. It would seem Old Lady Fujiko was the only one to actually deduce who, or rather _what_ he was and seemed content with keeping the information to herself. For what it's worth she at least guided others train of thought this way and that in her own way, tossing in reasonable doubt, but the rumor grew nevertheless. If nothing else it gave him all the more incentive to better hide his abilities where and when he could.

On the other hand, since they came to suspect as much of him, there was wiggle room for him to say... leap onto a branch without much effort. A low one to be sure, a feat an agile person would be capable of, not necessarily shinobi. All he had to do was avoid using overt abilities dependant of chakra after all! Hell! It made escaping his stalkers all the easier if he kept the charade up that he was simply physically fit!

With a grin he leapt to the nearest branch and crouched. Immediately he shuffled towards the end of the branch where the shoots of other branches became more numerous, joined in by other branches from other trees, delighting himself with the disappointed "aaaugh"s and "dang it!"s from below as the poorly aimed balls missed him by a mile to begin with. With his inadvertent barrier of leaves even the more accurate shots couldn't even graze him.

"That's cheating!" one of them cried out as he stomped his foot.

"Since when do," he stuck his hands out from the canopy to utilize air quotes, "shinobi" play fair?"

A second later a successfully thrown ball bopped itself against the palm of his hand.

"Got him!"

"Ah come on!" he groaned just as the children below cheered. "Right, right... I'm heading to the village guys!" he grumbled a moment later.

"Aw... but we want to play Samurai some more!" one of them whined.

'Jiraiya' rolled his eyes and jumped down. "Let me see if anyone needs any help in the village and then I'll come find you guys, okay?"

"Yay!" they cheered once more.

Shaking his head, the disguised shinobi jumped down with a quiet grunt and brushed off what leaves he had cluttered upon himself. Once satisfied, and the children began to explore the woods once more, he turned away and headed for the village with a slight smirk on his face as he again shook his head just as the invigorated shouts of the kids began to echo through the trees.

XVX

Yama Proper

His brow twitched.

It was like a scene out of a ronin movie where the hero walked into what appears to be a ghost town at first glance. Soon enough, not even a minute later, he would find himself surrounded by thugs often armed with wakizashi or clubs if nothing else. Unfortunately as far as this village was concerned the only reason it would be 'abandoned' this early in the day was that everyone who was able to was either in the fields or plying their own particular trades within the surrounding forest. As for the 'thugs,' it was three of his more... persistent stalkers. At the utter best the only 'back up' he would receive would be in the elderly who were most likely milling about the center of the village as usual. Even then at the most they would simply yell at them from their benches if they couldn't find the energy to stand, not that they could give much of a chase to begin with.

Still, as usual, it looked like he would have to get himself out of this mess. Again.

Taking a moment he looked about, noting their positioning around him in a triangle formation as well as who each woman was from hard earned experience: In front of him was Arisu, one of the his more prominent stalkers. Other than her pale skin, just about everything about her was black, almost including her very personality, from careful cultivation of procured garments from the trader that visited the village over the years as well as the far more rare beauty products to help sustain her beatific appearance. But what made her stand out head and shoulders over most was not only did she almost always carry a whip with her, a constant reminder of her whip fetish as well as the dominatrix personality waiting to subdue him at long last, she had more than enough skill to have caught him more than once with that same whip in her grasp.

It did not really help matters that even he could recognize her as gorgeous for a middle aged woman, especially when she purposely pulled her kimono apart to reveal an ample amount of her pale cleavage.

Asumi, a widow just a few years younger than Arisu, was by far more conservative than her counterpart. Dressed in earthly tones much like the rest of the village, she was rather average save for the occasional grope and even rarer chase she accosted him with. In fact by far she was one of the least serious cases he had to worry about. This was a first for her, ambushing him that is. The only thing he really had to worry about her however was her unusually strong grip— if the whip didn't subdue him then her clumsy but successful grappling would.

Last but not least was Miyako... Not even half their age, and quite possibly a few years younger than himself, which was kind of disturbing for him, she was one of his more eager pursuers. Probably because of her youth, she was one of the few capable of almost matching him speed for speed when it came to outrunning his stalkers on foot.

Now that he thought about it, wasn't she supposed to be married in a couple of weeks to one of the other children in the village? Or was it a neighboring village? Either way...

He fought off a grin on his face as he turned to give her a sideways look with a concerned frown. "Aren't you supposed to be married soon?"

Immediately afterwards she stomped her foot on the ground as hard as she could, crossed her arms and looked away with a pout. "It was my _father's_ idea that I'd marry some lame—"

"MIYAKO!" Arisu bellowed out much too late as 'Jiraiya' darted passed the weakest link with an unrepentant cackle.

"DAMN IT!"

"BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!" he cried as he rounded the corner and ran towards the depths of the village, taking a few twists and turns to throw them off his trail.

 _Boomf!_

Only to be tackle four turns in by another one of his stalkers lying in wait.

"Looks like I got lucky _this time_ ," one Kameko cooed. Whereas Asumi was unusual in her strength, Kameko was more explained. Tanned from years of hard work in the fields and muscles to prove it, she was a tomboy compared to most of the women in the village, especially since she dressed more as a man rather than a woman. She was also one of the few who have yet to married seeing as most men from neighboring villages were unwittingly intimidated by her. Or made uncomfortable, not that there was much of a difference since there were no single men within the village. It didn't help matters that she was quite aggressive at times either. Case and point being right now as she squeezed him to ensure he didn't escape her grapple.

"So shall we go inside then, handsome?" she purred as she picked him up, squeezing him all the tighter as if to suggest what was to come. It wasn't a second later that Miyako came careening around the corner and launched herself at the much larger woman.

"HE'S MINE!" _CHOMP!_

"WHAT THE HELL?!" With care most others wouldn't afford him she set the disguised shinobi free, letting him get on his feet before turning to pry off the much younger girl's teeth from her now injured thigh. During which, much to his dismay, Asumi and Arisu rounded the corner and spotted both him and the impromptu grapplers fighting one another.

Needless to say he fled the scene at top speed, his remaining stalkers chasing after him without being delayed in the least.

Unlike before he found himself running through the few alleys of the most clustered portion of the village without interruption this time. It was only a matter of moments that he made it out onto the main street of the village, just a few feet from the 'square.' Looking to it and elsewhere, he groaned as he found himself alone with nothing but a motley gathering of the elderly, he booked towards them with one objective in mind: Fujiko's home atop the hill, the one and only assured safety he had within the entirety of the village.

Thanks to his shinobi training he was able to clear at least halfway through the village 'square' by the time two of his pursuers rounded the corner after him as if they already knew where he was going. What greetings he received from the elderly he buzzed passed were half answered at best, or utterly ignored without intending to as they quickly realized what was going on, promptly goading them into glaring at berating the two women as they rushed passed them as well in a desperate attempt to catch him.

"Have you know shame! You're grown women at this point!"

"Arisu! Asumi! Cease this at once!"

"You shame _both_ of your families!"

"Go young man, go! I got money on you!"

Of course not while a good many within the village were greatly concerned with decency and public morality, not all were necessarily 'helping' him out of the goodness of their hearts.

Regardless, even if Miyako suddenly joined the chase at this point, even if she was lobbed at him by one of his powerhouse stalkers like before, he was too far ahead to be caught now!

In a matter of moments he ran up the hill, reaching the crest at a speed matched only by his once comrades back in Konoha. When he looked back he couldn't help but smugly smirk at the two as they ambled to the foot of the hill, Arisu glaring up at him as the two fought to catch their breath. Despite how uncharacteristically mean spirited it was, he couldn't help but plant both feet on the ground, plant his fists into the sides of his hips and boldly cackle from atop the hill.

 _Bonk!_

Up until the Village Chief conked him on the head from behind, appearing as if she came out of nowhere as far as he knew.

"Ow!" Immediately he clutched at the knot growing out of his head with tears in his eyes.

"One of these days you're going to have to learn how to resolve this issue, young man!" she chided. "I'm old enough as it is to not need to worry about an undue ruckus," she stated with a tempered but withering glare. In response 'Jiraiya' looked to the side, lips puckered in a pout.

"Not my fault half of them are scary."

 _Bonk!_

" _Stop that!_ "

Without so much as further acknowledging the fact that she whapped him once more on the head with her cane, the elder began to shuffle away to her door. Before she reached it however it slid open to reveal a woman, a teenager really roughly Naruto's own age, of blue eyes, brown hair tied into a bun in the back, and dressed in a short kimono skirt to match her kimono top. On her back was backpack made of straw.

"Ah, Akiko, leaving already?"

With a smile she nodded and hummed her answer with a pleasant smile, nodding all the while. Looking past her grandmother, she smiled a more friendly smile and waved at the disguised shinobi which he returned with matching enthusiasm.

With a frown however the elder looked over her shoulder at him.

"Of course considering you've been raising a ruckus again, I can only assume that you have nothing better to do. Am I correct?"

With a small, bashful chuckle 'Jiraiya' rubbed the back of his head. "Y-yeah..."

She sighed and hobbled to her abode, passing by and being passed by her granddaughter in return who soon came to stand next to Naruto. "Just keep your antics to a minimum. You're old enough not to act like a child after all." A moment later the paper door slide to a close behind her once she entered the safety of her home.

Grinning mischievously, the rogue shinobi brought a hand to his mouth. "It's not my fault that they think I'm sexy!" he called out. At what he thought was the barest hint of an annoyed groan he began to chuckle to himself.

"OOOH!"

It didn't last long however as _someone_ pinched him from behind! He turned to glare at Akiko who, while giggling to herself, began to prance towards the nearby woods.

"You too?!" he squawked indignantly.

"That's what you get for being sexy!" she returned with a chortle of her own.

Sighing to himself and shaking his head, rolling his eyes as he was at it, he sauntered after her before she disappeared behind the tree line.

XVX

Woods

"So what are you getting exactly?" 'Jiraiya' asked her in a bored fashion, both hands behind his head as he followed her.

"Just fresh herbs and such for her medicines and my training," she answered with a hum as she carefully peered out at the forest to spot such herbs lurking in the shade.

"Ah. Anything in particular you need me to find then?"

"Hmmm..." She stopped and brought a finger to her lip in thought. "Well, considering you're great at climbing trees, can you gather the nuts for me?"

"Nuts?"

She turned and nodded at him with a smile as he blinked at her.

"What kind of nuts?" he asked with a slight frown.

With her smile still in place she reached into a leather pouch tied to her waist and, after some effort, withdrew what appeared to be walnuts at first glance. Upon closer inspection however they were oblong in comparison, narrower too. The natural divide between the shells was darkened as well into an almost obvious line to further divide it in half.

"Tai," she introduced, causing Naruto to blink in uncertainty.

"... What's so special about it?"

Still smiling she placed it back within the pouch. "Have you ever heard the adage 'that which can heal can also kill?'" she asked once she gave him her undivided attention.

"Not really..." he admitted as his frown deepened.

Unabated, she continued. "Well the other side has another side as well: Normally toxic to humans upon ingestion, when carefully prepared in concoctions with other herbs to neutralize its undesirable affects or else carefully diluted, it can be used as an excellent painkiller. Or a numbing agent if nothing else."

"Ah... Where can I find them then?" he asked, his arms coming to cross over his chest.

"The fully ripened ones would be found on the ground just about anywhere. Otherwise you'll find them here and there in some of the trees. Either one would do really."

"Alright then. Need me to get anything else then?"

She shook her head, humming as well to emphasis the decline. "No offense but I'd doubt you'd be able to tell the finer difference between some of the herbs and plants, which to pick and such. The nuts are the easiest task I can offer..." She smiled a bit sheepishly while scratching her chin. "Well, short of climbing the trees that is." She cringed a little. "Admittedly I have to get my little sister out here to search the trees for me when I can't find any on the ground."

"I get it, I get it," he waved off, both literally and figurate. "So how many you need?"

Her eyes widened ever so slightly and with a slightly sheepish smile she reached for the pouch, untying it from her waist before giving it to him. Hefting it in his hand and by looking at it, he soon came to realize that it was bigger than he assumed.

"That's quite a lot," he noted, gaining a nod from her.

"True. But even when dried, nuts tend to last longer than most of the herbs we collect. Plus, like I said, it's a bit of problem collecting them when you can't find them on the ground so..." she trailed off with a smile as her point was made.

"Alright, alright," he sighed. Not even a moment later he began to do some squats, 'limbering up' as he called it to help avoid suspicion. Once he was 'ready' he leapt into a tree with a low hanging branch and promptly vanished from view within the shade and the ensuing foliage. It wasn't long however that he began to find Tai Nuts growing here and there, particularly on the ends of the larger branches. Subsequently he soon began to fill the bag with them as soon as he reached them...

Within minutes he was already bored out of his mind.

"Hey Akiko, how's your sister and her overgrown fur ball doing?" he called out. If she heard him or answered him then it was lost to him as he soon found his complete attention set on a growling patch of leaves on another branch. Narrowing his eyes and opening the quarter full sack, he pulled the leaves back enough to reveal a pair of beady pair of eyes he had became familiar with throughout the past two months as far as Fujiko's granddaughters were concerned...

Mushi, temperamental guard tanuki of Haruko, Akiko's little sister... The nastiest, meanest, ill-tempered tanuki he had ever had the misfortune of seeing, knowing and encountering; the bane of his existence if there ever was one.

The Akatsuki not withstanding of course.

As soon as their eyes met the demon-rodent lunged at him, teeth bared and ready to snap down on whatever happened to come close enough at the time. Moving faster more so from experience rather than training, he managed to catch the belligerent raccoon within the sack, though only the front half if not more so, and tied it around its waist, leaving it to screech in muffled fury as it attempted to wriggle itself out, legs kicking wildly in the air as it did so.

"Uh-hem!"

What victory he felt at the moment was squashed however as he slowly, almost jerkingly looked behind him to spot the black haired younger sister of Akiko, Haruko, who was glaring daggers into him.

Roughly the same age as the other village children, the only real distinction she held over them other than a brown headband she wore on her forehead were the two bangs on both sides of her head that dangled close to her face. That and Mushi was typically with her most hours of both the day and night.

"You do realize he attacked _me_ first, right?"

She continued to glare at him.

"Fine!" He shuffled in place till he fully faced her and squatted down as he held the tanuki away from him. "If he comes at me again though, I _will_ punt him!"

She remained silent as he set the critter down on its legs but kept his hold on the bag as he drew a breath to steady himself, especially upon hearing a very audible growl coming from the sack. Bracing himself, he ripped the sack off of the tanuki and leapt back, all the while barely registering the fact that a good number of his collected nuts spilled out in the process his retreat. It wasn't even a full second that the demonic thing whirled around to snarl at him once more.

"Don't you dare!" he growled back as it hunched onto the branch, preparing to rush at him once more.

"Mushi!"

Immediately its rage quelled down, its ears flattening on its head as it scurried away to hide behind its master. However it did peek out to glare at him, going so far as to, much to both his surprise and apprehension, make the Slicing Neck motion while glaring at him.

He couldn't help but openly gawk as he tried to comprehend what had happened.

Regardless, after shaking himself free of the disturbance of seeing that thing somehow having enough intelligence to not only know what that meant but threaten him as well, his attention was brought back to the younger sister of Akiko as she stomped away from him to the tree trunk. Before long she took a hold of some of the branches and hefted herself down to another branch, her demonic pet following her shortly after, leaving him alone with a bag and only a couple of the nuts to his name.

"Oh! Haruko! There you are! ... Has Mushi been causing problems again? I couldn't help but overhear about earlier!"

"Caught him before he caught me!" Naruto yelled with a grin on his face. It only got wider as he caught onto both a faint sigh and a more audible, irritated groan.

As the sisters began to argue with one another, or rather Akiko was lecturing her sister to keep Mushi from attacking other people while the other kept silent, he busied himself with the previous task of collecting the nuts once more by bounding from branch to branch now that they were distracted.

XVX

Yama, five hours later

It was something of a painstaking process but only a few herbs that seemingly escaped Akiko's hunt diligent hunt for her ingredients, making it a successful trip in the end as they brought back an abundance of what they needed. The only real detriment however was the time it took her to go over each herb and potential ingredient with a fine tooth comb in the figurative sense of the word. He wouldn't have really doubted she would have literally done so either given how thorough she was from sight to touch. In some cases she even tasted them, albeit cautiously... with good reason. What wasn't essentially poison under raw circumstances had euphoric properties. Or both. Luckily she came prepared for that, though he had to feed her her very own remedies most of the time.

Still, after some evident meandering they managed to find their way back to the outskirts of the village just as everyone else was coming back from the fields. A few of them heartily waved at them, some calling out to them in greeting as they came within earshot. They, for the most part at least, waved and called back here and there as well as they both entered and passed through the village in the relative safety that was Akiko's presence now that his stalkers were eying him from afar again. That didn't stop the more bolder ones from 'accidentally' brushing up against him for this or that.

Likewise from the men for the most part, what few that didn't make a good natured, teasing pass at Akiko, had also came to assault him with overly friendly hugs or else almost always clapping him on the shoulder with a hearty offer to come drink with them and their own friends...

In the end though they all leisurely sauntered up the hill. It wasn't long that they, Naruto, Akiko, Haruko and her pet entered their grandmother's abode and from there they ventured to a basement. An underground storehouse rather for their medicines, premade, dried or otherwise, all of which only lit by the light of a single candle brought down by Akiko. Soon enough under her supervision the ingredients were stored in various locations, clay pots and old wicker baskets while those of the plant variety were hanged upside down to dry out, all of which made a tad tedious upon the reliance of a single source of light. At the end however they collected a decent share of the already prepared herbs and other ingredients alongside utensils of her trade, all of which they brought up to house proper, to the first largest table they could find to set them down.

"Thank you for your help!" Akiko chirped the moment she turned to him with a bright smile. "Normally it would be dusk by the time I get back!"

"Given what happened I can understand why," he replied with a chuckle which she shared with him, though an embarrassed shade of red tinged her cheeks. "At any rate, I'm going to see if anyone else needs me for anything."

"Alright then!" she happily chirped as she walked away to retrieve a battered pillow for herself to use as a chair. "I'll be here if you need me for anything!"

"Just try not to get high this time!" he replied with a cheeky grin. It only got wider at her retort of an indignant "hey!" and the mild snort from her sister. As he left he couldn't help but shake his head in amusement as he couldn't help but overhear some agitated grumbling from Akiko as he neared, opened and finally crossed the doorway to their house.

"Ah, Jiraiya—"

"AAH!"

Only to almost run directly into Fujiko the moment he did so. Were the door not open he would've crashed through it in surprise upon failing to notice the village chief before him. Though she seemed annoyed, he could've seen the flicker of amusement flash through her eyes. "One would think you of all people would be more aware of your surroundings."

"Yeah, well... old people are sneaky?" he offered lamely. With a sigh the older woman shook her head with her eyes closed, though he couldn't help but see a flicker of amusement in them before they disappeared.

"I suppose for someone as inexperienced as you it is easy for someone as old as myself to 'sneak up' on you."

"Hey!" he moaned indignantly much to her sudden smirk.

"Regardless," she turned to him, "have you two collected everything she went out to gather?"

"Most of it," he admitted as he reached up and scratched the back of his head. "From what she said though we haven't found _everything_ she wanted."

She hummed softly and shuffled back into the house, passing gthe shinobi who soon vacated to her previous spot. "It's always been a great pain to find them all; I could swear they didn't exist at all at times when I was younger even though I knew where to find them." Before long and closed the door behind herself.

With a sigh he walked up to the shoji and knocked on the door frame. "Is there anything else you need me to do?" he called out. The door opened a full moment later to reveal the elderly woman.

"I believe everyone else had finished with their tasks for the day," she replied as she evenly stared up at him.

"Ah... Alright then. I'm just going to head home then," he rumbled before turning to leave.

"Just make sure you don't cause a racket like this morning!" she called out before closing the door.

"Get them to leave me alone then!" he cried back, turning his head for a brief moment to do so in the direction of the house. Sighing to himself, he began to descend the hill, arms crossed as he tried to think of something to do: With everyone back there was obviously no work to be done at the fields. The children of the village, in general, were most likely back in the village at this point as well, probably tuckered out much like their adult counterparts if not more so. Since the village didn't hold much in the way of shops or stores, especially since demand for anything always seemed to boil down to that elderly trader he encountered before, the only place that would need a helping hand would be the one and only blacksmith within the entire village. Even then he didn't get much demand for work outside of hammering out crooked shovels and sharpening woodcutting axes, a feat which most of the few woodcutters do themselves to begin with most of the time. With nothing else to do the day at this point would be spent conversing with everyone else, sharing stories, drinking, or cloud watching. That or sleep.

All three of them, technically four, were bad ideas.

Simply talking to anyone at length about any subject involving, even by proxy, history, politics or plain old geography would easily reveal him sorely lacking knowledge about anything. Case and point being that since he was an 'immigrant,' upon carelessly claiming he was from the west he was sked one simple question: how did he survive? Kanta, as he learned later through Fujiko, was Yonzo's estranged neighbor with half of its northern territory embroiled in a four-way war between the clan which made its home there and three different armies of rival powers, none of whom friendly with each other; not even the very ground beneath their feet was safe from their wrath as three of the four armies sought to utterly destroy one another.

After convincing everyone he spent many a day and night carefully avoiding the fighting and lurking in the forests and slipping away he did his best to avoid extended conversations that would ask him of his personal history.

As for drinking and cloud watching... both were ruined by his opportunist stalkers... Incidentally enough that was how he came to learn the names of his more prominent stalkers, amongst other things.

With nothing better to do and spotting Kameko eying him hungrily as she tore off a piece of jerky at the base of the hill with a grin on her face, he promptly turned around and walked back to the forest.

XVX

Home, four hours later

If he were able to use his older means to get about quickly, where rooftops and tree branches were equal opportunity, he reckoned it would take roughly twenty minutes to get to one place or the other. Walking, it was easily doubled or at least felt like it. With a detour, all the while making sure he wasn't followed again? He didn't bother even trying to judge it. All he knew was that the evening was turning into dusk by the time he got back. Soon enough he would be in his patchwork futon after he removed his canvas for the pumpkins and had a dinner of millet of course.

He couldn't help but sigh about that.

Looking around to make sure no one is looking, he brought his hands up to perform a jutsu before pausing himself. As a precaution he carefully crept towards his darkened home and, rather than step close to the door, pressed his ear to the wall as he pumped as much chakra as he could into it in hopes of brute forcing a method to hear better. Upon hearing nothing he cautiously crept to the door and meticulously opened it so as to not make any overt sounds. Like with his ear, he pumped as much chakra as he could safely manage into his eyes as he peered out into the darkness of his abode, easily enough making out the empty space before. With a sigh of relief he at last left the threshold in favor of his small field.

By the time he came to the canvas tarp he had managed to patch together and bent down, he was glad that he hadn't dispelled his disguise just yet.

"JIRAIYA!"

Taro, covered in scratches from the foliage, barreled out from the surrounding brush as if his life depended on it. In fact it seemed there was nothing to warrant any sense of concern for his wellbeing or for anything else however as he dashed over Naruto's covered field, stumbling over the cloth and crushing whatever he didn't see in a straight line to the confused and tensed shinobi. For a moment it looked like he just might crash into him at full tilt in his panic but came to an uneasy, hard stop as the rogue shinobi straightened himself to brace himself. In the same moment it took him to blink in confusion, the older man grabbed the shinobi by the shoulders and immediately began to drag him away in the same rush that still had him trampling the shinobi's field.

"Come on! Come on!" he cried as he dragged the still disguised shinobi away.

"Wait, what's going on?" he managed to ask as he barely remember to let go of his tarp. Whether or not it still covered a good part of his field, or what was left of it between the two of them, was another story.

"Chief Fujiko was kidnapped!"

"HUH?!"

XVX

Dirt Paths, Forest, forty minutes later

No one was quite sure what had happened. The only one who were able to confirm anything was Akiko who was returning home from running an errand at the time to find a hooded stranger with her grandmother on their back running into the woods. The storeroom beneath their house was also raided though it didn't seem like much was taken. Regardless, after giving chase, not only did this person outrun Akiko but seemed to have a horse at the ready within the woods...

Already entire teams were out scouring the forests in hope of finding a trail left behind by the kidnapper long before anyone thought to get the Village Hero. Only a few elected to stay behind and guard the storehouse lest it was something of a diversion by vengeful bandits.

In the end though they weren't him. All it took was to slip out of everyone's sight and take to the trees to already be leaps and bounds ahead of even the furthest of teams muddling their way through the brush by torchlight. As such, unlike anyone else, he already found himself along the edge of a dirt road. One which the thundering hooves of a rider was heard to his right.

Smirking to himself he immediately jumped from branch to branch as he gave chase to the sound. With the aid of the moonlight lighting the darkness of the land he was quick to make out the figure of a rider along the road. As he swiftly drew closer, his speed evidently greater than the horse the rider rode on, he began to make out a second rider, an older one hunched over and sitting in from of the primary rider. Soon enough however as he became more and more convinced that this was the kidnapper they were looking for, the man seemed to have spotted something and drove the horse into an opening to the woods to his left.

It didn't take much effort for the shinobi to follow him. But unfortunately he didn't gain as much ground as he would've liked.

Had it not been the glint of metal he would've reacted too late to a kunai darting out from the dark which was followed closely by an arrow of equal speed. Had he not dodged right and went crashing through the trees to the ground he would've been pierced by both of them. Already though from the darkness of the forest at night a battle cry of a hooded man screeched through as he charged the disguised shinobi with a sword in hand. From his own sleeve Naruto produced one of the few kunai he kept left on his person, let alone his entire 'armory' and blocked the sword strike before instinctively punching the man in the face, causing him to stagger back in time for an arrow to pierce through the night. Again it was dodged, more out of luck and poor aim than anything else as the rogue leapt back.

"Come on, don't say I wasn't doing anything!" he muttered to himself as he made a claw with one hand as if her were holding onto an orb and with the other he madly pawed at it as best he could without disarming himself. He had no idea who these people were but even he knew that the longer he wasted his time with them then the more likely the rider was going to get away. With luck then no one was able to get a clear look of his face given the current circumstances since he had some trouble tracking the very man before him, if not then... well, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it...

Already the chakra he pumped into his hand began to coalesce and from it a bright blue orb of chakra began to form, molding and being molded by the hand that swiped at it in all haste. Thankfully it was this very act that put the man before him on the defensive the moment he regained his balance and footing as made evident of him holding himself at a distance, sword at the ready. As for his friend, Naruto couldn't say... Or rather he had nothing to say in regards to him. "Rasengan!"

Faster than the other man realized, the disguised blonde charged him with both a grin and a perfect orb of chakra in hand. The man managed to react in time to block the orb but, despite his attempt, the moment the blade met the swirling mass of chakra it broke apart as it tore through it to his chest. It wasn't even a full second later that the man was thrust back with the force of a tsunami, launching into parts unknown in the darkness with nothing more than a strangled groan to mark his departure.

As soon as he was gone the shinobi, rather than wait for the second one to recover and take aim at him, already dashed through the forest, taking to the trees once more in the direction he _hoped_ was the rider's course.

By sheer luck of course it indeed was despite the rider going full tilt on the horse.

Like earlier a kunai lashed out from the darkness, this time coming from his own hand rather than an assailant's. Instead of it being aimed at anyone in particular however it streaked out in front of the horse, causing it to come to an abrupt halt as it reared back and whinnied in shock, nearly tossing both of its occupants to fall out as a result while it bought him enough time to jump out and land in front of them. Quickly enough he retrieved the kunai he had tossed and braced himself for a fight.

"Jiraiya?!"

"How dare you!" Already the horseman drew out a katana. From the shadows more hooded men emerged from the shadows with both swords and kunai at the ready—

"HOLD IT!"

Everyone stopped. Some, including Naruto, looked to Fujiko as she, with reluctant assistance from the men in hoods on foot, climbed off the horse and hobbled over to him. "What are you doing out here?" she intoned as she drew close enough.

"Uh..." He cautiously looked to his surroundings. "This isn't a kidnapping...?"

She remained silent for a moment before tilting her head forward as she sighed in mild exasperation, her eyes closed. "I see. I knew I should've taken the time to write a note..." She bowed to him. "I apologize. Since it was an emergency I didn't allow myself enough time to think properly despite having help packing what I needed." As she straightened herself the surrounding men seemed to relax if only slightly. "Had I bothered to think properly I should've known someone would've come to you given what I should've expected to occur to begin with."

She then turned on her heel and made her way back to the horse. "Now let us get going before her condition worsens." With an audible 'humph' the rider ushered the horse to her and had it present her side while one of the men approached to help her up.

"HE'S A DEMON!" someone cried out from the shadows. Once more everyone tensed, weapons held at the ready albeit weighted in mild confusion. "HE USED THE DEMON MAGIC OF THE EAST TO DEFEAT YASHIMARU WITH ONE BLOW!"

"Easterner!"

"He's a Shinobi!"

With a groan Naruto squeezed his eyes shut as a scowl split his face. Already he brought his hands together to form his shadow clone technique as the men prepared themselves to charge—

"I would rather not treat half of what remains of the Banten Clan along with their ill charge from picking a needless fight!" Fujiko barked as she feebly attempted to heft herself back onto the horse to no avail. Perturbed, everyone minus Naruto came to an uneasy halt whereas the shinobi in question glance about in obvious curiosity.

"The Banten?"

Ignoring him, the elder was finally hoisted back onto the horse with the unsure help of the man closest to her. "If anything, a bar of soap is more dangerous to him than any of you combined to begin with."

"Hey!" one indignantly roar, unwittingly joining a simultaneous shout by Naruto made at the exact same time. Unlike the clansman, Naruto continued to speak. "You know well enough I was being chased again at that time!"

"Are we leaving for the fort or not?" Fujiko loudly grumbled, again ignoring him.

"Fort?"

As if an idea had struck, she soon bore a contemplative frown as she looked to 'Jiraiya.' "It would probably be best if you came along with us should—"

"Lady Fujiko!" the rider finally spoke up in a bark. Meanwhile the men around Naruto again prepared themselves, though with a look of grimmer determination in their eyes than before. "It is one thing to... advocate peace, but—!"

"He may be clumsy and dimwitted at times—"

"Hey!" Naruto groaned.

"—my village would've suffered from the taxes much like everyone else without having been asked or even asking for a reward in the first place," she continued after a brief pause. "And though he obviously comes from a land of ill refute, on that merit alone, despite all the trouble he has caused—"

"They're the ones who keep chasing me!"

" _Despite_ all the trouble he is _causing_ ," she corrected herself, "he has my trust with private matters that concerns us all." She turned a stern eye to the man she sat in front of. "Or would you rather have my believe I keep being kidnapped and keep sending him after you on suspicion alone?"

"... Fine..." With a small kick the horse began to saunter forth at a leisurely pace. As it drew closer to the disguised shinobi the rider leaned toward him and glared. "We _will_ be watching you," he growled just before having the horse trot through the line of departing clansmen. The moment he was clear of them he had the horse breakout in a full gallop down the unseen path through the woods.

Not entirely sure of what to do, 'Jiraiya' once more glance about at his current company for some cue among them as to what to do. Like himself, they seemed as unsure as well though some of them kept a keen, scrutinizing glare upon him as they _reluctantly_ put away their swords. Some of them didn't put away their kunai however... Biting back a sigh and erring on the side of caution lest he get an earful from the elderly woman later on, he put away his own kunai.

It wasn't out of reach on short notice however.


	6. Chapter 5

**I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status (in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point...** **In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only.** **Why else would it be in FanFiction?**

 **Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare (** ** _OF DOOM_** **)!)**

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter Five: A secret in the forest

Yonzo Province, Fifteen Years ago

It didn't take a genius to know that the only one keeping the peace at the moment was none other than Fujiko herself with nothing more than a sharp glare that pierced through the darkness of the night at _anyone_ who even had the inkling of an aggressive thought in their mind. As such a tense silence fell upon them with the clansmen intently glaring at him and he himself consciously keeping his hand from so much as fingering the ring of his kunai for its security. Things didn't get much better either when he learned that more than a few more had joined them since then yet kept out of sight either within the rustling trees or creeping about in the darkness beyond them, but alas there was nothing he could do without potentially starting a fight. It wasn't until they reached the perimeter of their destination that anything had changed however.

His only clue that their destination was within reach were the few lit lanterns ahead easily stood out for all to see under the overcast sky of night. In contrast however were the thick wood walls that almost erupted into view from the gloom with an equally mighty gate which was left open without the benefit of a light. The same could be said for the multitude of neatly arranged wooden stakes arrayed before the wall to break a charge. As expected the village itself was directly behind the wall and at best poorly lit by the numerous lanterns that subsequently came into view, leaving only shadows and vague figures in their wake amongst the darkened scenery.

About halfway through the village where their numbers were undoubtedly thickest yet unseen in the shadow but heard like before in the forest they came to a stop. Just as Fujiko was dismounting on her own accord with the help of an aid wrapped in shadow, a pair of shinobi grabbed him by the arms and began to drag him away. Between the resulting cry of surprise and the struggle that almost became a brawl as more shinobi set themselves upon him to restrain him, Fujiko's attention was drawn to them in less than an instant. "I do believe we settled this back in the forest!"

"He's within the village!" the horseman spoke up as he rounded his mount toward them. In the meantime the struggling had stopped in favor of what may come much to everyone's discontent. "He is going to be where we can see him at all times during your visit, Lady Fujiko! I'm sorry but I am not willing to potentially jeopardize _her_ safety on your trust alone!"

The elder was about to speak up again when the sound of running feet caught everyone's attention. Soon enough a runner had indeed reached them and made his way directly to the one on the horse whom leaned down to better hear the messenger's whispering words which were solely meant for him. With a grunt the horseman straightened himself and slouched his shoulders in defeat as an all too visible scowl made itself evident in the poor lighting. "Am I to assume then the matter has resolved itself?" she asked rather tersely.

"Indeed." With a heated gaze the man atop the horse directed his attention to 'Jiraiya.' "But understand that we will brook no threat beyond this point, jesting or otherwise." With a tug of the reigns the horse turned and cantered out of view, disappearing into the shadows and softly plodding out of earshot as tense arms reluctantly let go of the disguised shinobi. In the meantime the elderly woman sighed.

"Well, I suppose we shouldn't keep her waiting then."

"Huh?" Even when most of what he saw was basked in shadows, he knew that all too familiar look given to him by the entire group of shinobi. It was often the same look Sakura, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shikamaru... frankly everyone he met gave him when he asked a question, a particularly _legitimate_ question as well no less! Especially for someone in the dark, figuratively speaking...

At least Fujiko seemed more weary than annoyed at least.

"It would seem you have an audience with the Princess herself."

"Princess?"

In the partially illuminated gloom Fujiko slowly looked over her shoulder to him. "Princess Rei, the true ruler of this land."

XVX

As it was made abundantly clear prior to arriving in what he could only assume to be the village's 'square' there wasn't much in the way of lighting. In fact it was evidently purposeful, at least in part. Regardless, with their guides and subsequent 'bodyguards,' almost all of whom were boring holes in him with their quieted glares, they weren't lead to any dead ends, abrupt stops or the like in the darkness. In fact when they arrived he was almost dazed when a door seemingly materialized out of nowhere in the darkness, outline only by the almost ludicrous amount of light that shone forth from the doorway the minute the barrier gave way.

Soon enough they were ushered through the door and lead down the rather plain hallway beyond it, one that ran from their left to their right the moment they crossed the threshold; they were made to go to the right to a dead end. As it seemed like they were about to deliberately smack into the wall for the sake of sheer stubbornness the boundary parted way like a false wall. In essence it was. More accurately it was a thick door decorated like the surrounding walls that was opened by apparent servants rather than shinobi: they were thinner than everyone else though not unhealthily so. Not only did they lack the noticeable speed, strength and coordination of shinobi but were utterly winded from just opening the door, never mind the fact they were wheezing while pushing them closed, but that was neither here nor there.

Though he didn't know what lay in the left route, the further they traveled down this path it became clear it was a residence as the odd servant was seen here and there, vases with or without flowers and decorative pieces were seen by some doors and even some miniscule paintings of the landscape variety decorated the walls in some places as they ventured deeper into the depths of the installation. But what he ended up noticing the most however were the guards. At every corner there was a guard to keep watch of the hallway. Looking up into the surprisingly high rafters above them he was barely able to make out a foot or a limb of a shinobi either on patrol or following them from above. While none of them were heavily armed, they nevertheless had their weapons well within reach at a moment's notice, particularly so when they saw him traveling down the hall despite the shinobi surrounding him. No, the heavily armed ones, armored even, were the indisputable samurai. Two to be exact who were standing guard over the only set of double shoji doors he had seen since stepping foot within the compound. It was also the same set of doors they were heading to it seemed in the one of many hallways they had traveled through. This one however had the benefit of the door being at the very end of which as opposed to being on the sides like he had seen thus far, making it all the easier for the samurai guards to see who was coming.

Though their hands gripped the two pronged yari tightly enough to creak the wood, neither stopped any of them as they arrived at the door. Nor did they do anything when one of the shinobi kneeled down and bowed his head.

"My lady, Lady Fujiko has arrived... as did your... guest."

"You may enter."

The shinobi hesitated before reaching out and meticulously drawing the door to the side, revealing at least a section of the room at best. Though initially it didn't stand out any greater than what he had seen in the hallways, plain walls and a stone floor, he was quick to notice that many a cloth had been laid out on the floor in lieu of wood or carpeting. What held his attention however was the woman sitting on her bent knees facing the door from the opposite end of the room, her eyes closed. A shinobi in fact gauging from her curt attire and the ninjato strapped to her back. Without warning her eyes flew open in a heated glare as the veins around her eyes pulsed and strained.

 _Poof!_

And before he realized it his guise was dispelled the woman broke eye contact and hunched over in pain as she clutched her eyes. By the time he tensed, the startled guards had already drawn their weapons and brought them to bear whilst an equally bewildered chieftain slowly rounded on him so as to not exacerbate the situation at hand.

"... well that explains your immaturity."

In spite of his doom being a hair's breadth away he had found time to give her a deadpan stare in response.

"That's enough!" a regal voice softly commanded from the more hidden depths of the room. "I wish to see him."

With gritted teeth the swords were reluctantly lowered and sheathed whilst the yari were drawn away from him.

"Please, enter," the voice more gently commanded. Begrudgingly the lead shinobi reached out and drawn the other door open before stepping through the widened entrance with the samurai whom were replaced by two of the original escort. As soon as Fujiko was able to turn herself around they were ushered inside by the remaining shinobi of their escort. Meanwhile the kunoichi from earlier, while clutching at her eyes, was escorted out a secondary doorway by the head shinobi who had entered the room with the samurai.

When they stepped inside it was readily apparent it was a bedroom thanks to, obviously, the bed nestled against the back wall to his immediate left. A real bed, not a futon like he had seen the villagers sleep in, Fujiko included, as well as himself. Its configuration was far from luxurious however. In fact it was as simple as one could get for a four poster bed which was surprising given the silken white sheets adorning it. Even its occupant, whom he could only guess was Princess Rei herself, was clad in relatively simple garb as well, a pale lavender kimono with a blue border at most for decoration. For a supposed princess there wasn't much in the way of decorations in her own room besides the 'carpeting' and even a painting of a mountain majestically towering over an ocean view along the left wall. She didn't even wear anything that could signify her station beyond her relatively simple clothing be it make up or even the more customary headdress tiara he seen some princesses wear. She was no less regal however in her poise whilst sitting up from her bed, hands folded in front of her and laying atop her blanket covered lap, her dark fair and beatific face flawless in its presentation. Even her eyes, while twinkling with curiosity of seeing something novel for the first time were veiled with a ruler's authority as she watched him for a moment before turning her attention to Fujiko who stood by the eastern shinobi.

"Lady Fujiko," she regarded her with a nod. "I'm terribly sorry if my subjects had inconvenienced you in their retrieving of your person. I _had_ tried to dissuade them that it wasn't necessary, but they felt it was... pertinent to have my cough remedied."

"If it was truly a bother I would've complained of it even as we stepped through the door," Fujiko waved her off as she shuffled toward the woman whose samurai stood at attention at either side of her bed. While flicking his eyes about Naruto noticed a numerous set of herbal ingredients had been set out on a previously unmarked yet ordinary table where a lantern silently helped illuminate the room. Likewise on the opposite side of the room sat another table with yet another lantern that added its own luminescence to the room. Regardless, Fujiko marched forward and took a seat on an offered stool by the side of the bed. "At any rate however I have been meaning to perform a checkup. Now then, may I see your arm?"

Without further prompting the princess pulled back her sleeve, revealing the pale skin underneath it to the older woman and offered the limb to her with her palm facing up. As such the elder woman took it and with a hum she expertly placed her fingers along the younger woman's wrist in search for a pulse. In the meantime the princess redirected her gaze to the blond who no longer had the benefit of his disguise who in turn anxiously shifted in response.

"Um... hi?" he offered with a nervous grin and a raised hand in a half planned wave. It was barely even a moment later when he heard hands clenching their respective weapons which in turn caused his eyes to tightly close shut as he restrained a groan. His grin on his face became strained in the moments that followed as he kept his hand up. When nothing had happened he slowly cracked an eye open in time to see her hand drifting back to her lap. Looking to the sides where the samurai were prominent he saw them relax somewhat as far as guarding a princess was concerned. Slowly he lowered his hand so as to not set them off once again. Just as his hand came to his side the woman on the bed slowly bowed to him at a meticulous pace.

"I am Princess Rei of the land of Yonzo. It is a pleasure to meet you, man of the East."

"H-hey! I'm... Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki," he offered in return and fell silent. His grin was strained even further as he fought it to keep it from turning into an uncomfortable frown whilst he felt the glares intensify all around him. In response though the woman closed her eyes and canted her head forth in thought after she had straightened herself in the first place.

"Perhaps it would be better if most of my guard left the room."

Horrified gasps bloomed around them from the shinobi. Even the samurai guards looked gob smacked. In all likelihood it was through sheer discipline and willpower that they hadn't rounded on her with wide eyed stares.

"My Lady!" one spoke up before the others could form proper words. "That is—This—Are—He's an Easterner! This is improper, my lady! He could very well slit your throat the moment the opportunity presents itself! This... Just...!"

Rather than address him the princess brought her attention to the shinobi in question and leveled a hard stare on him, her lips creased in a frown of silent annoyance. As she did so the man in question seemingly shrank in place in the corner of Naruto's eye.

"He shouldn't even be here to begin with, Lady Rei!" another spoke up in the man's place. "We all know the stories! He could very well have come here at the behest of Akihito to dispose of you once and for all!" Her attention diverted to the other shinobi who, like the other one, sat at the corner of Naruto's vision. "Even then some of them are known to have gone on killing sprees for the sheer thrill of it! Wakai even employs them to slaughter uprisings!" He jutted a hand at Naruto who did everything in his power not to instinctively scowl at him in return much less turn lest it be mistaken as a hostile action. "For that matter, even _if_ this easterner wasn't hired by anyone, what reason would he have to be here then?"

"A criminal! He has to be!"

"Enough!" the woman demanded with a regal calm before everything could be carried away. Even Fujiko paused to level a stern, disapproving stare on them. The princess then spared the older woman a glance. "If he truly was as horrible as any of you claim then I would have little doubt Lady Fujiko would've vouched for him as she did. For that matter, as I understand it, she wouldn't have encouraged him in following her here to begin with." She returned her hardened gaze upon the men before her. "Even then if the stories are true and if he wasn't lead here directly by my wishes, do you believe his supposedly unrivalled might would have been stopped should he truly seek our destruction?"

Her frown creased as another _attempted_ to speak up but was silenced with a preemptive glare.

"My retainers shall remain by my side. Do please wait for us outside, and please close the door behind you."

The shinobi were resistant at first until one by one they stood and left, each casting a scathing glare promising utter pain and death on the renegade before slipping out of the room and ultimately closing the shoji behind themselves. Yet in spite of that Naruto was finally able to relax, at least a little as was her intent it seemed. Regardless, his body became less tense and his grin dropped under the hard gaze of the remaining guards. Thankfully though its now neutral appearance didn't seem to upset them nor the princess in the slightest.

"I apologize for that," she offered with a polite bow even as Fujiko continued to tend to her, seemingly lost in her own little world as she hefted herself up so as to place a hand on the unperturbed woman's forehead. If he looked closely enough however he could almost swear he saw an embarrassed blush on the princess' cheeks, though from what exactly he wasn't quite sure given the circumstances of verbally belligerent shinobi and being actively tended to by a doctor. "They are... very concerned for me as it is as you can see. Your presence here only exasperates them further I'm afraid given what is famously attributed to Easterners."

"Uh, it's not a problem," Naruto waved her off, figuratively off course. The samurai were still glaring at him and he could've sworn he heard something creek in the ceiling above. "Just... I don't know... I guess... just why did you... bring me here?" he asked uncertainly. This time he didn't bother suppressing the urge to scratch his head. It seemed harmless enough even though the samurai tensed for a brief moment. "I mean you're basically the..." He quieted himself as he was about to say "leader." An important figure for sure, but why? Why the security and secrecy? His mind was awhirl as it tried to explain who she was despite even hearing about her for the first time roughly an hour ago. A part of him even wanted to attribute her as the leader of Yonzo itself, the country rather than the namesake province, but from what he heard in passing the daimyo was a man, one whom no one would miss should he suddenly keel over and die...

Again the woman bowed once more in acknowledgement rather than formality. "True. Even though I have no place in a war room or be council to those who fight on my behalf, even I recognize there are significant risks in meeting you in person, regardless of character. But you had saved Yama from the coming season of taxes, Fujiko's village, and for that I am grateful. As such I refuse to allow you to be purposefully mistreated and in here, within my gaze, none may object to your presence short of deliberately threatening my life."

"Uh, thanks..." he said unsuredly, gaining another nod of acknowledgement from the woman.

"I'll admit though that wasn't my only reason however."

"Huh?"

Her cheeks which had returned to their original pallor were once more flush with embarrassment. "Admittedly I was wondering what someone from the East would look like. Though you may not have known it, thank you for indulging my rather selfish reason." She bowed to him once more before turning to Fujiko who had her lean over so as to inspect the princess' mouth for a brief moment. Her eye was next. When that was over...

"Would you all mind turning your backs?" the older woman asked rather abruptly. Everyone minus the princess looked to the chieftain with their own variant of confusion. The samurai seemingly figured out what the older woman wanted and gave her a defiant glare which was split between her and the rogue shinobi in a rather pointed fashion as if they were silently conveying their own argument with the medicine woman. Unfortunately for them she matched the both of them with a glare of her own that was undoubtedly reinforced with years of experience and the natural right of being set in her ways due to old age. Needless to say they lost and almost sullenly turned their backs to the two. Sadly however even Naruto who was still confused as to 'why' she made her request got an eyeful of her stern glare as well. He didn't last even a quarter as long as the samurai before folding as well. When he heard the slipping of cloth his cheeks flared to a brilliant red as he finally puzzled out why Fujiko made her demand.

"Alright, you may look now," she grumbled aloud sometime later. By the time he turned around he found her manning the desk with her herbal supplies and the Princess was decent once more. The samurai were more evidently grumpier for wear though.

"If you would indulge me further," the princess softly spoke up, "would you mind answering a few of my questions as we wait?"

"Uh, sure... what do you want to know?"

The princess looked him in the eye. Though he wasn't quite experienced with the tells of people as some of his former comrades were, he was fairly certain there was a sheepish look of the curious variety to her despite her careful schooling.

"If I may ask, what was it that my shinobi manage to dispel when she saw you?"

"Oh! That was... uh..." he glanced to Fujiko who was looking at him out of the corner of her eye, no doubt curious herself given the fact he used it ever since arriving at Yama to begin with. "That was my henge technique," he almost muttered in both embarrassment and a bit of shame; she undoubtedly knew his reasons, but... what guilt he had learned to ignore came back tenfold.

As if reading him like an open book she rolled her eye and gave an irritated sigh through her nose. One that was ignored if not heard by the princess.

"Can you show me what this henge is?" the princess innocently asked.

He hesitated and fidgeted as he wrangled with—

"Unless you were plotting to steal our food, burn down our village and run off with all the women, which I sincerely doubt at this point since you run from _them_ like the plague, I do not hold it against you," Fujiko loudly grumbled as she took a pestle to a mortar laden with herbs. As she did so she began to incoherently grumble to herself. It was only thanks to similar mutterings back in Konoha that he was able to discern her saying "brat" however. He couldn't help but grin at that.

"Alright then!" He brought his hands in a hand seal in spite of the wary guards gripping their primary weapons all the tighter. "Prepare to be amaze!" he said with a grin.

 _Poof!_

XVX

Time passed. Fujiko had long since finished what she had set out to do and simply sat back to what the spectacle Naruto was making of himself at the princess' ongoing requests. What was deemed to be fascinating replications and perfect impersonations of themselves and some other villagers were first. He even threw in some of his friends and well remembered personalities both in and out of the Leaf Village much to the princess' almost childish amusement and awe. Then came his clones, earning the flabbergasted attention of all at seeing another him literally appear out of thin air. The Rasengan came afterwards, bewitching the princess with its circular maelstrom of energy. He even did some wall walking much to their surprise. He even added a male variant of his Sexy Jutsu just for laughs at her expense... both were red at the end of that one: her face aflame with a trickle of blood spilling from her nose whilst his was from having a cane smashed into his face right before being lecture by an outright furious Fujiko.

In all honesty though it was worth it. Sort of. He was a bit disturbed however when one of the samurai was floored by a nosebleed himself... the barely concealed leering didn't help matters either. He did unwittingly knock a kunoichi out of hiding from the rafters with a crimson stream of her own however, lightening his mood somewhat with impish joy. Her own subsequent leering was mixed with an undulating hatred stemming from embarrassment though.

"Thank you," Rei said after recollecting herself. That and after Fujiko put him through the ringer while adding a few for whacks with her cane while she was at it. "It's been awhile since anyone was so willing to converse with me and make me laugh."

"You're welcome Rei!" Naruto beamed as he held up a thumbs up. When the guards stiffened and tensed, one of whom was audibly growling with displeasure, he realized his mistake. "Uh... _Princess_ Rei. Sorry, I don't talk to royalty that often—"

"It's fine," she softly murmured with a gentle smile of blissful contentment. "You may address me as Rei if you so wish." If she noticed the shocked looks of her bodyguards and even the mild widening of Fujiko's eyes then she masterfully ignored them. "It is like what I said before, it's been awhile since anyone would talk so freely with me, aside from Lady Fujiko of course. And I thank you once more for it." She bowed to him once more, causing an embarrassed blush to erupt on his face as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

An amiable silence fell upon them as Fujiko gathered her belongings into a bundle. As such it was broken once she hefted the small bag, hobbled over to Naruto, handed him the bag and turned to the princess whom never once left the bed. "Be sure to call on me if you ever start feeling ill. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the village before they do something... rash. More so than sending our rather immature troublemaker."

"Hey!" he cried indignantly. "It's not like I plan to cause trouble! And half of those women are crazy and you know it!"

She pointedly chose not to dignify that with a response, thus she solicited a pout and a grumble from the blonde as he crossed his arms rather haughtily. Regardless it was enough to earn a good natured giggle from the princess from behind her now uplifted hand. She wordlessly nodded to them and they bowed to her in return before they left.

Like before they were escorted through the labyrinth under guard and promptly led out of the village in all agitated haste. They even walked them out a distance beyond the walls and into the darkness before finally abandoning them at the very road he had originally found them at. Exactly where though was beyond him as the shinobi were all too happy to put as much distance between himself and them so long as he was with Fujiko. Being out of their village and out of their semi-baleful presence would probably make anyone at least partially giddy at the prospect of being abandoned at some random spot on the road, yet it bothered him little. As for Fujiko, she just seemed content in his opinion if anything at all from what he could make out in the dark.

He couldn't help but frown however as they slowly made their way across the road in what was undoubtedly a long trek back to the village, in the dark with but a clouded sky obscuring the moon on occasion.

"Hey, Granny Fujiko?"

"Hm?" she hummed noncommittally in acknowledgment.

"What was all that back there? I mean the princess, the shinobi, the... fortress? I don't know. I didn't get to see a whole lot in the dark there."

A spout of silence ensued between them as they crossed the road and entered the forest in what was likely to be a meandering search for the village.

"Tell me," she spoke up after awhile as she muddled her way through the brush of their darkened world, "during your time in the village, what have you learned of our country?"

"Uh... other than the tax thing? Well, Wakai to the north, Shoho to the east and those, uh, Shiki guys to the northeast? That those guys invaded and Yonzo lost or something, hence the tax?"

She was silent for a moment but a loud, wearied sigh left through her nose.

"I don't know who told you that part but that is a lie. It was Princess Rei's father whom invaded Shiki, not the other way around."

"Huh?" he intelligently asked, his head tilting for an added effect even though her back was to him. He came to regret it a second later when a low hanging branch ended up scratching his face. In the meantime the elder was silent as if contemplating her soon coming explanation during their trek back to Yama.


	7. Chapter 6

**I do not own Naruto, Dragon Age (minor, not to a degree warranting a crossover status (in my opinion) nor any other element that may arise in this story. I'm fairly sure that has well been established at this point... In any case, this story is for entertainment purposes only. Why else would it be in FanFiction?**

 **Answer me that, I dare you! (Supreme glare ( _OF DOOM_ )!)**

Of consequences: From it an Empire

Chapter Six: The worries of a reclusive

Naruto's abode, Yonzo Province

Weeks passed since the 'kidnapping' incident had occurred. Thankfully life went back to normal almost instantly the moment it was all 'explained away' with the story of having to perform an emergency visit to a sick patient in another village. Though true, for certain reasons, a fair bit of it was... edited for their sake, to protect them through their own ignorance should certain questions be asked... And as much as Naruto tried not to think about it, in true fashion he just couldn't help but think of her reasoning as he found himself spending more and more time within the village rather than his isolated home in the woods.

Be it in the name of their own ambition, their greed, their religion if it ever was an issue to begin with, war was an unfortunate pastime for the powers that be. Sadly the tale belonging the late daimyo of Yama was but another page at best in the very long and bloody book that was the overall history belonging to the lands west of the Elemental Nations. Wanting to expand his territory, the Daimyo of Yonzo attempted to invade Shiki to claim their renowned forging techniques to better equip his own samurai for further expeditions in the provinces beyond Shiki. But like everyone in the West, they, Shiki, were too accustomed to war and conflict to be easily conquered. As such they resisted and even repelled Yonzo only to enter a stalemate that would last for years no matter how aggressive or masterfully planned each assault was for either side of the conflict. It was not to last forever however. As the war dragged out from months to years the other lords from the other lands began to take interest with the two warring provinces and their weakening armies. While some marshaled their own armies in preparation for hostile takeovers of their own, others took more... subtler means to eliminate the opposition. As such the late lord of Yonzo was assassinated. By whom was up for debate as there was little in the way of evidence, especially since almost every province had its own band of shinobi duty bound to serve its particular daimyo. It was of popular opinion however that the late lord's son, the current Daimyo of Yonzo, was the one who had him murdered, though again there wasn't much in the way of evidence.

Regardless, with the previous lord's death, Akihito, the current lord, ascended to the position of Daimyo. It was with his ascension that rather... drastic changes began to occur. Other than ending the war, one which Shiki begrudgingly withdrew from as well to favor their defenses, his first order of business was to banish the samurai once employed by the previous daimyo. While the official reasoning was that it was a 'condition' placed upon by Shiki as Yonzo 'lost' the war, a fact the country's samurai were all too happy to argue with, perhaps playing in part as to why they were outlawed within their own homeland in the first place, it was said that even before Akihito's own Grandfather assumed the position of Daimyo of Yonzo that most of the gold Yonzo had accrued had been spent on the country's samurai army; armor, weaponry, arrows and even horses were not made freely no matter how generous the smiths, the fletchers and breeders were. Without that army there was only a a considerable amount of gold to hoard, and Akihito had a love for gold that he shared with no one, not even family.

With a number of their 'neighbors' beginning to encircle them and their 'lord' being more concerned with luxury than the safety of his domain, what samurai that hadn't been driven out of Yama and even the entirety of the resident shinobi clan had rallied underneath the erstwhile lord's daughter, Akihito's sister, Rei. Yet Akihito was not one to be deposed so easily and thus did not remain idle: in lieu of samurai he had legions of ashigaru, foot soldiers of common birth, raised to 'police' and 'protect' the land. Though nowhere near as fundamentally dangerous as even the poorest of samurai, and their armament cheap even by other daimyo's standards, they were easily more numerous than samurai. And with a bow and arrow, arguably more dangerous than one too in thanks to such numbers. Yet they weren't the real problem: to better combat a civil war and to keep his coin, Akihito had struck a deal with Wakai to make use of their own army to keep Yonzo's enemies at bay. More importantly, along these samurai he had also bartered for their own shinobi to be at his beck and call with one purpose in mind: to kill Rei to ensure his rule was uncontested should she ever produce a heir before him.

As such what would be a rebel army and their princess went into hiding. But it would not last forever.

Like Yonzo, Wakai had its own host of opportunistic warlords who saw an opportunity in its weakened defenses. Worst of all, for Wakai at least, some of them couldn't be bought off with the surplus of slave soldiers and workers as was Wakai's trade. And with Akihito being more 'concerned' with his own trade with Shiki, foodstuffs sold at exorbitant rates since the proud warriors and smiths were almost constantly under siege from other countries in recent years, their fields burnt to starve them out, it was only a matter of time before the samurai from Wakai were pulled back along with the majority of their assassins to fight the inevitable war up north. When that happened it was only to be expected that Rei's forces would emerge once more. More to the point, after so many years of suffering under Akihito, it would be an open revolt once the villages caught wind of the missing force from Wakai.

Until then it was but a waiting game...

Naruto wasn't honestly sure how he felt about it.

Having essentially lived it, he saw the ugliness and horror war can bring, at least on a 'small' scale if nothing else. Even now, in spite of everything, he shuddered at the thought of 'what if' should Nagato not done what he did with the populace's resurrection. He honestly wasn't sure if he could even _survive_ the fact that Konoha was utterly obliterated regardless of what happened if Nagato hadn't brought everyone back. As such there was more than a sizable part of himself that wanted to help: To take to the front lines, to do dangerous missions and beat everyone else up to a pulp if it meant to protect the quasi-family that was growing on him. Yet if he was honest with himself, another chunk of himself didn't want to: He served his own village rather well over the years if he did say so himself, never mind the naysayers and actual crap he pulled. At the end though he was disowned as a shinobi, nearly executed for wandering too far to investigate a mysterious glint, and then ruthlessly hunted down by almost every mercenary, rogue and odd shinobi village imaginable for four weeks. Even if he utterly _ignored all of that_ , even in passing he heard some of the villagers recount the horrible tales of Elemental Shinobi crossing over only to reap havoc to destabilize the countries in the western lands and incite war. Some made it even clear they had never hoped to meet one, ever... it didn't take a genius to figure out that if he did join, even if he was as far as he could be from his potential allies, if there was so much as one scratch to forcibly negate his henge then the repercussions from word of mouth alone would likely force him out of Yonzo entirely given that everyone in Yama knew where he lived; it was amazing how _fast_ news bad news can travel.

Still, with the forces of Wakai guarding the borders for now the civil war was... stymied, for now. Whatever bridge he'll cross would come later along with it. For the time being he could simply enjoy the quiet life in the village, the literal fruits of his labors, when they arrived of course, vegetable/fruit argument not withstanding! And of course... building traps.

While the coming and assured war was a fair distance away, time-wise at least, bandits were a real problem as evidenced by the day of his arrival. Unfortunately some of these bastards were once the very samurai pledged to the previous Lord of Yonzo while others, much like 'himself', supposedly slipped in through the cracks littering the defensive encampments meant to bar out armies rather than small groups. Without a proper army barely consisting more than barely organized units ambling about the countryside, if ever, and Wakai content with simply acting as a deterrent toward invasion, Yonzo was ripe for abuse by raiders. Worse yet it seemed the current daimyo was perfectly willing to let them roam the countryside and stealing from the food stores as it provided him with 'ample' reasoning toward 'punishing' the villages by selling their kinfolk to Wakai whenever they couldn't provide their tribute...

With so many villages now abandoned as their residents had been sold off or else slain by one or the other, only an absolute fool wouldn't expect resentment to build throughout the entirety of the country.

Hoping to forestall an open rebellion till Wakai was forced to retreat, Rei, at great risk to herself, had ordered the majority of the Banten to hunt down the bandits and _hopefully_ return what they had stolen in time. However given that they had to stay out of sight as much as possible their ability to conduct such operations in broad daylight was limited at best. Not only that but, as Naruto managed to observe by sheer luck no less as they had taken a keen interest in staying hidden from him in thewir own observations of the rogue shinobi, they interestingly couldn't run along the trees unlike himself and countless others back in the Elemental Nations. He could only scratch his head as to why that was.

At any rate however, with them being stretched thin between trying to protect the citizens and guarding the princess, he took it upon himself to help them, in his own way of course. To that end he had taken it upon himself in learning the more immediate layout of his surroundings.

By foot just about any other village would be half a day's trip to get to, even then there was only two officially known villages in 'walking' distance. To reach one a person had to wander straight through the surrounding forest and its hills to reach it whilst the other a person could find simply by using the only remaining dirt road they had. Neither of which he had visited yet at any rate. As for Yama itself, while theoretically an attack could come from _anywhere_ in any direction, if the bandits themselves were mounted then they would follow the road for a stretch much like they had done so before. While he couldn't rig anything to cover an open expanse like that, or rather nothing that wouldn't potentially jeopardize one of the villagers if and when they expand their farmland down the line. The same could be said for the forest if he wanted to keep his identity a secret. Sadly the only effective counter measures he could think of that would allow him to keep his secret however were clones disguised as wildlife patrolling the forest and digging shallow trenches along the open field so to not arouse too much suspicion by the villagers and the extreme few visitors the village received; other than the merchant who popped up every other week, on a weekly basis at least one person visits from either village just to swap news.

It was almost depressing that he was limited to basically two options...

Still, with no better option in sight that wouldn't interfere with his neighbors, he got to it when night had fallen where the least amount of eyes were upon him. If he were honest though he was progressively regretting the clone option however: awake or asleep, it was a headache and a half when half a night's worth of information from his patrols came screaming back to him. On a side note he was beginning to wonder in his spare time whether or not that this was the reason none of the Hokage's ever bothered with the use of shadow clones for paper work. If it was then he wouldn't blame them in the least! On another side note Fujiko, while fairly understanding and even a little grateful for his newfound efforts toward protecting the village, was beginning to get annoyed by his increasing requests for painkillers in this particular regard.

In the end though he honestly hoped it was enough. And that the war, when it came, would be over long before he felt a choice was upon him.

"Gnnn..."

... provided of course Fujiko doesn't (nonlethaly (hopefully) poison him first after the umpteenth request for their equivalent of aspirin of course.

XVX

Night

 _"Bing!"_

Against his will he woke up in his futon, wide eyed and awake. Thankfully it wasn't from the nightly barrage of memories either from a dozen or so clones popping out of existence this time. No, the problem was much closer to home in the literal sense as announced by the sharp chime of a metal bell he had scavenged being struck.

While he was stumped in regards toward protecting Yama without risking his identity from being exposed, his house was another story should worse come to worst: Trip wires, pitfalls, homemade and debatably effective poison tipped darts (nonlethal of course in the event someone from Yama was visiting, courtesy of Fujiko once more), even swinging log traps just to name a few that he had made with his own two hands with his limited supplies on hand. Best yet is that if anyone from the village ever bothered to ask, he could simply wave it off as trying to protect himself from the seldom seen patrols that seemingly forgotten the road his house was on. At any rate however he had only so much time on hand to determine whether or not he actually _has_ intruders lurking in the bushes behind his house or if someone from Yama was rushing to their potential and figurative doom if he didn't deactivate the traps before then.

" _GAAAH!_ "

Too late.

Groaning, he sedately pushed himself out of bed as it readily became more and more apparent that not only was the first victim with friends but they were activating the other traps as well. None of which were (deliberately) lethal of course, just in case. It wasn't like him rushing to the scene would've stopped them, the traps _and_ the people, at any rate. As such by the time he opened the back door, after disguising himself of course, he was treated to the brilliancy of the moon, the stars, and, interestingly enough, five of the Banten shinobi caught in various traps, three of whom knocked out by the darts. One of the five was caught in the classic snare trap and the last one sounded like they were trying to climb out of a revealed pit. Overall this would probably be the third time they were trying to spy on him, as far as he knew at least.

"... You know it's kind of late for this crap, right?" he muttered with a groan just as the first wave of memories from the patrol routes began to filter in. As much as he wanted to question the jumbled mess of hours worth of knowledge he learned soon enough that more than enough nightly predators had attacked his clones when they disguised themselves as animals during their nocturnal patrols to keep him from assuming the worse right off the bat any more.

"Just get us out of here, _foreigner_ ," the one caught in the snare seethed with narrowed eyes.

Naruto's eyes squinted at him in response before flicking over to the man's leg for a kunai holster; though they haven't attacked him since learning of him that night, the hostile intent was perfectly clear during his brief encounters with them thus far. After a quick search it was clear the leg was void of any obvious weapons. His other leg was likewise bare. Even his hips were free of such armament which the Eastern shinobi found odd. Were they in a similar situation as himself in regards to supplies? Then again it wouldn't be the first time he was duped by an apparent lack of weaponry either, once more courtesy of the four hellish weeks he endured. As such he sighed and rubbed his face as he reluctantly drew out a kunai whilst still shifting through his migraine inducing memories—

... as messy as it was when two or more clones from different sections dispersed and returned their knowledge to him, it was apparent that it wasn't some badger or bear that got them by surprise this time.

"Gotta go!"

He didn't bother trying to explain himself as he threw the knife and jumped to the nearest tree he knew wasn't booby trapped on some level. He was even fairly sure he was halfway through his particular neck of the forest by the time the trapped shinobi fell to the ground. Regardless of where he was and how fast he was moving however he focused on only scene painted so vividly in the now mounting memories of clones and fresh fights, hidden away by the trees and brush that was blocking it. In moments he finally burst out from the woodland and into the open plain where a battle between his clones and a band of bandits was taking place, with the clones on the losing side.

Unable to reinforce themselves, honed skill and once dedicated training easily sliced through skirmisher experience whenever the rasengan wasn't in play. Even then when it was used though either a spear or a sword the clone was run through from an opening in its side as it blew away its intended enemy. And though they, the clones, were on the losing side, the silver lining however was that while they were fighting, and losing, to the band of bandits, not only were said bandits far enough away from the village to not be heard, much less seen clearly, but the horses were the first to go. As such only a few of the bandits were hoofing it to the village as oppose to fighting the clones. At any rate however Naruto quickly made some more clones who immediately drove themselves into the skirmish; a few of the newly made ones gave chase to the 'fleeing' bandits as Naruto himself headed into the thick of it.

When it was over, by the time dawn had come the only things left to tell tale that a battle had taken place were the hastily flattened patches of dirt from where bodies had viciously crashed into the earth, the abandoned shards of metal which hadn't been collected and the wild splashing of blood left to stain the grass for anyone with a discerning eye to see should they pass by.

XVX

With a hefty sigh Naruto cautiously trudged through his own field of traps in case a few of them were still armed as he rearmed the activated ones and covered the pit once more. The bandits had been easily dealt with once the clones utterly overwhelmed them. Sheer numbers had trumped what advantage they had over the clones they were originally battling against. And with his greater speed there were no stragglers to be had, thus safeguarding his secret a little longer. The only real pain from it all however was getting rid of the bodies, especially the horses which were beyond a shadow of a doubt heavier; while he kept a few to carve up and eat later, it didn't make the painful trek to the desert any better just to ensure no one found either the horses or the dead bandits. Making sure no weapons were left behind was a close second though given that he was working in the dark, even with clones. While he made damn sure no bodies were left behind so as to not arouse suspicion, he wasn't so sure if he picked up every last piece of weaponry that was intact or otherwise. With luck any weapon he did leave behind would be hidden away by the growing grass if no one was paying any special attention at the time.

With any further luck, seeing as he couldn't exactly keep it for himself since he neither knew how to properly wield such weapons, and giving them to the people of Yama might create some... issues, his offering of the collected weaponry to the Banten at their fort would help lessen their own hostility towards him... if nothing else then he hoped they won't turn around and kill him with said weapons. He wasn't going holding his breath about it though.

With the last of the traps set and a few positional adjustments for the next time the Banten came calling at night he finally sauntered back into the house. Once inside however he couldn't help but sense something was off. A quick but careful glance swept the room before rearing itself upward to see if someone had taken to hiding in the rafters above him. Thankfully there wasn't anyone there nor anything out of place...

Wait...

Squinting, he couldn't find his futon anywhere! Nor his kettle or even the skillet he used for cooking over the fireplace! There was even a floorboard out of-...

He immediately rushed toward it, moved it aside and looked into the impromptu hiding place where he kept his old gear...

It was missing too.

"YOU JERKS!"

 **A/N: As much as I hate it, it's kind of inevitable with every story: a filler, passage, etc chapter. In all honesty I had something else in mind but... it felt not only rushed but was sadly cheesy to me as well.**

 **For what it's worth I apologize if this feels a bit... underwhelming. I also hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.**

 **Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds. Doubly so for this chapter (cackles)!**


End file.
